


Rumors of Gabriel's Death

by BronsonL



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Action, Angst, Bromance, Captivity, Danger, Danny Hurt, Danny Whump, Family, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, No Slash, Ohana, Steve Hurt, Steve Whump, Suspense, Whump, badass danny, badassery, some language
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-01
Updated: 2020-01-01
Packaged: 2020-05-31 09:06:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 27
Words: 56,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19422853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BronsonL/pseuds/BronsonL
Summary: After two members of the task force are targeted and attacked, former members unite with the current team to deal with an old foe they thought they’d never see again. A foe who is apparently back for revenge, but possibly much more. \,,,/ Cover art credit: ulli_1.12.5.24 (IG)





	1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Thank you so much for checking out my story. It's my little contribution as a remedy for the summertime hiatus blues. Since we won’t ever get it on the show (sadly), I wanted to explore bringing the old and new teams together and this is what I came up with. It’s longer than most of my others, so I hope you’ll hang in there with me. I also do hope you enjoy it and I’d love to hear what you think.

Brandywine737 - still not done but getting there. ;) 

**Special Credit and Appreciation:** My cover art, the awesome drawing of Gabriel Waincroft/Christopher Sean, was an original creation for this story by the _great_ ulli_1.12.5.24 (Instagram). If you haven’t had the pleasure of seeing her amazing work before, go check it out. She has a love for our favorite TV show as displayed in her talented drawings. She definitely has a knack for bringing out the lifelike personalities of Steve/Alex O’Loughlin, Danny/Scott Caan and ALL of our beloved characters. Danke Schön, Freundin!

 **Disclaimers:** This is FYE not a text book. I’m not a medical a professional and I’m guessing a lot of readers are not either. If you are, have yourself a good laugh and enjoy. I’m not a fan of reading a bunch of medical terminology (gobbledygook) that I don’t understand and therefore, do not write using much of it either. If I did, it would most certainly be incorrect, so I just skim over it. I write it the way I want it to work with the story. Heck, I’m already taking great (unrealistic) liberties with the plot anyway.

Finally, I don’t own anything that is a proper a noun. No infringement intended. Y’all enjoy – here we go!

* * *

**Rumors of Gabriel’s Death**

Danny rushed through the double doors of the emergency department at Queen’s Medical Center. The facility was busy at this mid-afternoon time on a Thursday. Danny had to bob in and out of several people in the hall like a running back avoiding linebackers. He brushed up against some people in his haste and almost made an older man stumble. The occurrence made Danny awaken from his self-centered fog long enough for him to take a few seconds to directly address the man, laying his hand on the man’s shoulder and offering his sincere apologies.

“I’m so sorry. You all right?”

The startled man could see the urgency on the face of the one who had just haphazardly bumped into him. His initial miffed reaction turned to sympathy as soon as saw the fear and worry in the other man’s eyes.

“Yes, yes. I’m fine. No worries. Looks like you’re in a hurry. Better be on your way, son,” he said, releasing Danny from further obligation.

Danny nodded his appreciation. “Thanks.”

He hadn’t made it ten more feet when an orderly in scrubs passed him. Danny grabbed his arm to stop him. “Hey, can you tell me where I can find Commander Steve McGarrett. I understand he was brought in not long ago.”

“Sorry, man, I can’t help you, but the desk is right up there on the right. Somebody there should be able to get the information you need.”

“Yep, thanks.” Danny had been to this hospital enough times to know about the desk and where it was, but right now he wasn’t thinking clearly and was desperately looking for anyone to help him. He was headed for the desk when he heard, “Detective Williams!”

Danny turned to his right to see Junior push himself off the wall where he had been leaning. “Junior, where are they?! How are they?!” Danny didn’t mean to be short, but his impatience peaked at seeing someone who could actually help him.

"I'm glad you made it. Commander McGarrett is in surgery right now. I think he's in pretty bad shape. Captain Grover is in a private room, but I think he's sleeping from sedatives they gave him. He took a round to his upper thigh. He lost some blood and was in a lot of pain, but the meds are keeping that under control."

Danny had heard what he had said about Lou, but it didn't register fully. His mind had paused on Steve being in 'pretty bad shape'.

"Can someone _please_ tell me what the hell happened?"

Junior didn't take Danny's irritated mood personally. He knew he was upset. "Tani is in the waiting room. She was there. She may have more information. She's pretty unsettled, so I didn't press her."

Danny left Junior behind and started toward the waiting room with one goal in mind. He needed to get information on what happened to his ohana. According to Junior, it sounded like Tani was going to be his best bet.

She was sitting in a row of chairs that faced away from the entrance, staring at the television screen on the wall that was playing a home renovation show. She was oblivious to the program and instead of watching, was going over the ambush in her mind. She didn't see him enter. Danny skirted around the chairs and avoided crossed legs, bags, and purses of the other concerned friends and family members that were waiting for word on their own loved ones.

Danny brushed her nearest shoulder to get her attention as he passed her and sat in the seat beside her. Junior followed and sat in the chair on the other side of Danny, leaning his elbows on his knees so he could see past Danny and be included in the conversation. 

"Oh, Danny." She reached her arm around his neck and pulled him into a hug. The contact and just seeing him initiated a stream of uncontrolled tears. "I am so sorry. I don't know how this happened."

"Tani, it's okay. Just tell me what you know. First, have you heard from the doctors? Is Steve still in surgery?"

She began to nod as she reached to the end table and got another tissue from the box to dry her tears. Danny noticed that she already had a crumpled, wet, mascara-tainted wad of tissues in her fist. "Yeah, I haven't heard anything more since they took him back. He took a bullet to the chest and one to the abdomen."

Danny took a deep breath and looked away for a minute. He knew that was bad. A thin line of anger coursed through him, but he refocused and turned back to Tani. "And Lou?"

"Lou got hit in the leg. I think he's doing okay, but they gave him some strong pain meds that have knocked him out."

"Can you tell me what happened?"

"They had been spearfishing at Waialua. We had a case called in and I couldn't reach them cause they were in the water and didn’t have their phones, so I headed up there. By the time I got a hold of them, they had finished and were walking toward me on the beach. I was on my way to meet them half way when I heard the shots. McGarrett went down first and then Lou. I pulled my gun, ducked behind a nearby tree, and yelled for the few bystanders that were there to get down.” 

“Did you see the gunman?”

“When McGarrett went down, Lou turned and looked toward a car that was leaving the parking lot. Then he was shot and went down. By the time I got to cover and followed his line of vision, the car was speeding away. For all I knew, it could have been someone who heard the shots and was getting out of Dodge as fast as they could. The gunman could have been anywhere. There was dense overgrowth on the other side of the road and lots of other cars, not to mention all of the boats at the marina. I searched in every direction, but I couldn't tell where the shots had come from. I called in for backup and an ambulance and then went to help them. You know the rest. I didn’t see anything, Danny. I’m so sorry.”

Danny sighed heavily. “It’s okay.” He stood, obviously perturbed by the lack of information. He hooked his thumbs through his belt loops and with his hands resting on his hips he turned back to her. "Did you get to talk them? Were Steve or Lou able to say anything?"

"McGarrett was out from the get-go. I don't think he ever saw or knew anything had happened. Lou was cussing and saying something about an angel as he dragged himself over to help me put pressure on McGarrett's wounds. Any talking was either to or about Steve." She caught her breath at the thought, swallowed and continued. "We were trying to get him to wake up and... to not die on us."

"That's okay. Thanks for taking care of Steve til help got there."

"Yeah... yeah… of course. He scared the hell out of us, you know."

Danny processed what she had said, then questioned, "What was that you said? Lou said something about an angel? He wasn't even hurt that bad."

"Yeah. Weird, right? I just thought he was loopy with the blood loss, but he said he saw Gabriel."

The confused lines on Danny's forehead disappeared into a blank expression. "Gabriel, huh? Well, son of a bitch. Could he have been talking about the shooter? Do you think he recognized the guy?" 

"I don't know. I just figured he thought he was on death’s door, with being shot and all. I guess he _could_ have made the guy. Maybe the guy in the car?"

"You have _got_ to be kidding me. _Another_ one?" Danny turned away again and began pacing in a small area past Junior. Danny immediately started sorting through a mental list of any wanted suspect that Lou would have known with the same name as their not-so-dear departed nemesis. At not being able to come up with a possible explanation, he vented some more frustration. "Geez. There are freakin’ two of them? What’re the chances of that?" 

He wasn't directing his comments toward the younger members of the team, but Junior had heard his comments nonetheless. "If I may ask, two of who?" By now, Junior and Tani were standing as well, facing Danny's back, very curious by his odd statements.

"You know Gabriel is not a very common name. A few years back..."

"Steven McGarrett family?" the waiting room attendant called out. 

Danny dropped his train of thought and quickly approached the hospitality attendant. "That's me. Uh, I mean us." He looked back and gestured to include Tani and Junior.

"Are you Daniel... "

"Williams. Yes, yes. Danny Williams. That's me. I’m his authorized medical contact. How is he?"

"The doctor said he'll see you now. Right through there."

The trio entered through the door that had been pointed out to them. There was a small table with three empty chairs, two on one side and one on the other. Danny looked back into the waiting area to see if he had made a mistake, but realized he must not have when someone, probably the attendant, closed the door behind them. Danny's anxiousness spiked as he considered why they were bringing them into a private room. _Had the worst happened and they thought they needed the privacy for when they broke the news?_ Danny could feel his heart rate increase as he realized he wasn’t prepared to hear what they were about to tell them.

Having drawn a similar conclusion, Tani went ahead and sat in one of the seats. Junior gave Danny a couple of reassuring pats on his shoulder before leaning on the back wall, leaving the other seat available for Danny. It wasn't until a different door into the room opened and a gentleman in a white coat entered, that Danny decided to sit. Overcome with dread at what he was about to hear, Danny consciously tried to control his breathing. The surgeon saw how pale he was and felt sympathy.

"Would you like some water, Detective Williams? I can get a nurse to... " "No, I wouldn't like water. I'd like to know how my partner is."

Dr. Patterson, took the hint and after introducing himself, got right to telling the enthralled listeners the details of Steve's injuries and how the surgery went. 

“…he’s in recovery…” 

Danny grabbed onto that phrase from the doctor’s first statement and wouldn’t let go. Steve was alive. After taking two hits center mass, he was, at least, at the very least, alive. After hearing that fact, Danny would be the first to admit he had faded in his attention to details. He had heard follow-up words and phrases intermingled into the doctor’s spiel like 'waiting game', ‘touch and go’, 'pragmatic', and 'extremely critical', but he was unable to process the rest.

He hoped the others were paying attention for him. He heard Tani ask about Captain Grover and found out that Lou had another physician that they would have to talk to separately. Dr. Patterson was uninformed on the other team member’s condition.

At the end of the doctor's briefing, Danny had asked about, and had been turned down on, being allowed in to see his best friend. He was reminded of the delicate nature of his condition and the need for no visitors, at least for the time being. Dr. Patterson, was hopeful that this restriction could be removed in short order, optimistically hours or possibly days, but for now, the first few hours were the most critical and therefore he was going to be unwavering on this stance for the Commander’s wellbeing.

Danny wanted Steve to have every chance at pulling through and if that meant not being able to see him right now, so be it, but that didn’t mean he had to like it. There was silence in the room as he glared at the doctor a few moments then turned his mouth down into an ‘if that’s the way it has to be’ face and gave him an unsatisfied nod. He quickly stood and walked out of the room, abandoning social protocol. Tani and Junior watched him leave and they took up the slack and offered Dr. Patterson their hands in gratitude.

Danny had not meant to be ungracious. Right now, he just didn’t care enough about social standards to be polite. He understood the necessity of the intensive care that Steve needed right now. He just needed an outlet, and if that was not going to be visiting Steve and talking to his subconscious to pull him through, it was going to be something else.

Junior and Tani caught up to Danny at the elevator lobby. The down light was lit, but they saw him forcibly hit the button again, and then one more time for good measure. “Danny, come on. Where are you going?” Tani entreated.

“I’m getting out of here,” he answered waving a hand through the air as he watched the numbers light up above the door, sincerely confused why they’d even be asking. The door opened and Danny started to step in. Junior put his hand on his chest to stop him. 

“Hold up… Please.” Danny looked him in the eye and again started to push through the hold to step into the elevator. Junior tried one more time. “Sir… Danny? Please.” Danny sighed in capitulation. He removed his hand from holding the door and stepped back out and let the door close. 

“All right. Here I am.” He swept his arms dramatically in front of him. “So, now what? What the hell is so _damned_ important that you want to keep me from getting out there and finding the asshole who did this?” He folded his arms across his body daring the two to do the impossible and convince him of another course of action. 

Tani stepped in front of Junior to get Danny’s full attention. She laid her hand on his arm and spoke calmly and carefully to defuse his volatile temper. “Look, I know you’re upset.” She glanced at Junior and then back to Danny. “We all are. And we _all_ want to get the… ‘asshole’ that did this, but I… we… don’t think you’re in the right frame of mind at this present time. You’re upset. You shouldn’t be driving. You’ll hurt yourself or, God forbid, somebody else.”

“Oh, I’m gonna hurt somebody all right.” Danny continued his dogged stance.

Tani, ignored the statement and continued. “Now, if you want to go home and shower, or get something to eat, or even get a little sleep, we’ll be all for it. One of _us_ will get you home, but running out there half-cocked, in your current state of mind, without a plan, will accomplish nothing and could make things worse.”

“Worse? How the hell can they get worse? Steve is probably on his deathbed right now. I’ve got to get the son of a bitch who did this!”

“I know. I know. We want that, too…” She lowered her head and paused as an older couple stepped off the elevator and passed by and then began again in a softer tone, “…but why don’t you wait until we know McGarrett’s going to get through this? We’ll all be able to breathe easier and will be able to actually concentrate on bringing in this guy. Come on. How ‘bout it?” 

Danny stared at her a moment, then looked to Junior to see a stalwart supporter backing up her comments. He lifted his eyebrows as he prepared to retort and raised his hands with his fingers splayed to match his expression. “That… all of that right there… was a very good speech.” He chuckled derisively. “You should probably try motivational speaking sometime, but not on me. I’ve wasted _too_ much time as it is… and I’m _not_ planning on ‘bringing him in’.” He once again headed toward the elevator panel. “He killed Steve.”

Tani knew what Danny meant. She knew that Danny knew Steve had survived and was hanging on, but the overwhelming probability of the statement coming true was enough for Danny to feel as if it were a done deal. “Fine! We’ll just stay here and we’ll let you know when we hear something. How’s that?” Tani’s calm tone was gone, replaced by an angry sarcasm. Her temper was growing to match Danny’s. “You know, Lou should be waking soon. We’ll just tell him you skedaddled and went off to find the shooter on your own. If I had known that you’d just run off when he told me to tell you about this Gabriel dude, I’d never have done it.”

Danny was in the elevator and the doors were closing. He put his hand out to stop them at the last second and they opened again. “What did you say?” In an instant, he was in front of Tani again. Both she and Junior were bewildered by this latest behavior.

Her anger still holding on, she repeated, “I _said_ I’ll tell Lou you took off after the shooter on your own.”

“No. After that, about Gabriel.”

“Yeah, I said I wouldn’t have mentioned Gabriel if I knew you…”

“No, Tani.” He stopped her mid-statement and took her by the shoulders. “You said when he ‘told you… to _tell_ me’. Did Lou ask you to tell me about Gabriel? Think… Did he?” Danny’s volume grew with his impatience. 

“Yeah, yeah, I guess. Why? What’s going on?”

“That’s impossible.” Danny turned away and ran both hands through his hair, clasping his fingers together in a hold on the back of his neck while he thought. “It can’t be.”

Junior looked at Tani to see if she was as confused as he was. She shrugged at him behind Danny’s back. “Sir?” Junior reverted back to his more comfortable form of address. “What’s impossible?”

“Gabriel… Gabriel Waincroft is alive.”

* * *

**_~to be continued~_ **

**\,,,/BronsonL**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Thank you to everyone for reading and for the comments, subscriptions, bookmarks, and kudos. It's so appreciated.

Also, ulli_1.12.5.24 posted her artwork of Gabriel to Instagram the same day I posted this story and Mr. Christopher Sean himself liked and praised it. So proud of her. She deserves it.

* * *

"Please, Detective, he needs his rest." The charge nurse had just finished checking on Lou and was headed out when he ran into the insistent visitor.

"Look, like I just told the orderly, I need to talk to him."

"Danny? That you?"

Danny had heard Lou speak. "Excuse me." He grabbed the nurse's shoulders and turned him sideways so he could push past him to get into Lou's room.

"I'll let the doctor know he's awake," the nurse said, too tired to argue and left them alone.

Danny could tell Lou had just woken up. His right hand, with the IV attached, was rubbing at his eyes as he was trying to become more aware.

Renee had been patiently waiting for her husband to awaken. She arose from the recliner and grabbed the railing of the bed. "Hey, baby. It's so good to see those gorgeous eyes. How you feelin'?"

"The leg hurts like hell, but I'm feeling much better now that I get to see that beautiful smile." Lou's eyes crinkled in a smile of his own as he admired his wife.

"You, big flirt," she teased.

"Ah, hm." Danny feigned clearing his throat. "I'm sorry. I really am, but, Renee, do you think I can have a minute to talk to the patient?"

"I don't know. He just woke up. The doctor will need to see him and I don't think he's up for it."

Lou saw the uncharacteristic seriousness in Danny's blue eyes. "Sweetie, it's okay. It'll be just a minute… Really, I'm okay," he said with a patronizing smile.

"Well, I don't like it, but all right… _Just_ a minute." She wagged her finger and knitted her brow in warning at Danny as she passed him. "I'll go speak with your doctor and keep him at bay for now, but we'll be right back."

"Thanks, Renee," Danny offered in return. He turned his head toward the door until he knew she was gone, then he stepped back and shut the door for privacy.

Lou's face was now grim with dread. He knew for certain why Danny was asking for a private moment. "He didn't make it. Did he?"

"What? No. I mean not yet. It doesn't look good, but he's hanging in there for now."

Lou blew out a sigh of relief.

"Sorry, I… I guess I should have led with that. No, uh, so how about you? Are you doing okay?"

"Danny, I love you, too, but enough with the chit chat. I know why you're here and if it ain't about McGarrett, then it sure as hell ain't about me. Tani told you. Didn't she?"

Danny stepped closer to the bed and nodded. "Yeah." His voice was almost indiscernible. "She told me. Is it true? Was it him?"

"I still don't understand it, but yeah. It was him."

"Maybe you were mistaken. I mean, wouldn't it be hard to see him from where you were… or… or maybe it was someone that looked like him."

Lou shook his head slowly. "I know you don't want to believe it. I don't either, but it was him. I saw him with my own two eyes and it was him."

"But how could that be, Lou? He's dead. The bastard died on the operating table."

Lou pushed down on the mattress with both fists, wiggling into a more comfortable and upright position. "Danny, let me ask you a question. Did _you_ see his body? Did McGarrett? _I_ sure as hell didn't. We just accepted what they told us."

Danny took the weight of what Lou was telling him. Somehow, three years ago, Gabriel Waincroft had managed to live through the gunshot wound and live through the surgery. They had been lied to by the doctor, if he even _was_ a doctor. Gabriel had a lot of money, and a lot of influence, and a lot of people that was indebted to him that must have gotten him through the stumbling block of almost being killed. Now, here he was, back on the island, or maybe he had been here, hiding under a rock, the whole time. Either way, he was back and had literally fired the first shots in this new phase of war that he had declared on Five-0.

After taking a moment to mull it over, Danny let Lou in on his acceptance of their current situation. "Was he alone or did you see anybody else?"

"He wasn't driving. Someone else was. I heard the shots, saw McGarrett go down and right before I got hit, I saw him in the backseat of a black SUV with the window partially down. I saw the barrel and I saw that same grin that I always wanted to wipe off his face."

"Well, Tani got a look at the car, too, and there are other witnesses that will need to be interviewed. We'll start there and get Jerry checking the cameras. At least we know our enemy. That gives us an advantage," Danny reasoned.

"Does it? What if the rat wanted us to see him? A grand re-entrance of sorts. This round to the leg… might have been right on target after all."

"You don't think he wanted you dead, too?"

"Right now, I have no earthly idea what he wanted, but I'm not ruling it out. I wonder what _else_ he's got up his sleeve, anyway."

"Well, if this was his declaration of war, then he can bring it," Danny said while backing toward the door to leave.

"You gonna let Chin and Abby know… and Kono?"

"Not yet. I'm gonna ask Adam to keep it quiet for now, too. I will call Mary and give her an update on her brother, but I'm going to hold off on the others."

"Well, you do what you think is best, but you're two men down and it may not hurt to let them in on it."

"I'll keep it in mind. Let's just make sure Steve pulls through first. I'm going to get out of here and let you get back to your sweet lady."

"Yeah, I _know_ where you're going and, Danny. You know I gotta say it. You be careful. That's what McGarrett would want. Got it?"

Lou had to settle for Danny's confident smile as his reply, hoping he had gotten through to him on some level. He said a silent, little prayer that the rest of his ohana would stay safe in seeing this through… whatever ' _this'_ turned out to be.

~~~~~H50~~~~~

Danny was on his phone and walking fast through the parking lot, informing Jerry of their team members' status and that they were facing their former foe once again. Gabriel Waincroft had returned from the dead. Thankfully, Jerry withheld any zombie comments that may have been forthcoming if his boss's prognosis had not been so dire. Danny gave him instructions to begin their search, but was pleased to hear that Tani had proactively relayed the details of the incident, so Jerry had already begun the process of scanning nearby camera footage for signs of the black SUV.

He had just put his phone in his pocket when he realized he had inadvertently gone to the passenger side of his car. _This was not the way things should be._ Steve should be taking his self-appointed place in the driver's seat and Danny, his place-by-proclaimed-protest. He really didn't care that much that Steve drove his car. His protests were always a means of stirring the pot for entertainment's sake, but he'd never let that control freak know it. In actuality, the doofus probably already knew and was playing along for the same reasons. Steve knew him so well. It was almost eerie sometimes. The reminiscing stopped abruptly as his anger peaked at the realization of what had been taken from him.

"Damn it! Damn you, Waincroft!"

Gabriel was supposed to be the one dead, not Steve. Gabriel had gone into the same hospital three years earlier and had somehow walked out alive. Right now, it was very likely that his friend, his brother, would not be able to do the same thing. A wave of fury overtook him and, without thinking, he swung his fist, backed with a full force of adrenaline, into the windshield. A web of cracks spread out from the area of impact. He pulled his hand back, surprised by his lack of restraint, and shook out the surge of pain that ran from his knuckles up to his elbow. He inspected his hand to find a few shards still buried in flesh, causing blood to run down his fingers. The release was something he needed, though. His hand hurt like hell, but _he_ felt much better for it.

He pulled one larger piece of glass out of his wounded hand and brushed some smaller pieces out. Not seeing anymore, he climbed into the driver seat of his car and reached into the backseat and pulled a navy blue tee shirt from his carry-on duffle that was still there. Rolling it longways, he wrapped the makeshift bandage around the evidence of his rage.

Earlier this morning, he had almost made it to his house from the airport when he had gotten the call from Junior about the shooting. He had slept on the plane, but was still exhausted from the loathsome hours upon hours that it took to get from New Jersey to Hawaii. A real night's sleep in his own bed would have to wait. He had something he had to do before he would be able to truly rest again.

~~~~~H50~~~~~

He had seen the Camaro when he entered the parking lot and had coincidentally found a spot nearby. He rubbed the top of his lip as he stared at the large building in front of him. So far, things had gone as he had hoped, but now he had to satisfy his curiosity as to the status of his handiwork. Gabriel was getting ready to go inside. He had even already opened his door when he saw Danny come out the main entrance. He pulled his door back to look closed without slamming it shut. He had seen the two Five-0 cops go down, but didn't know if the big guy was well enough to pass along the news that the rumors of his death had been greatly exaggerated, as he had intended. If he had to guess, by the look of the second in command, the Captain had come through. He could almost see smoke coming out of the smaller man's ears. When he saw him punch the windshield, it was almost confirmation and at the very least, immensely satisfying.

"Ooo, ouch, Williams."

He leaned back and smiled. After a couple of seconds, the smile became a laugh. What he couldn't be sure about was if the detective's reaction was just about him, or if maybe, the head of the task force had not pulled through, maybe both. It really didn't matter to him, but judging from this entertaining performance of which he was the sole audience, he'd guess a military funeral would be happening in the near future. He couldn't help but chuckle again.

He waited until the Camaro pulled out of the lot, then he once again started toward the medical facility. With a surgical mask wadded up in his hand and the ties hanging loosely, he strolled nonchalantly toward the door. The hem of the ill-fitting scrub pants dragged on the blacktop surface, causing a frayed jagged edge to form on at least one leg. A welcomed cold wall of air hit him as the doors opened and he glanced up at the security camera in the corner of the lobby and gave it a wink and a grin as he walked toward the elevators.

He had gotten to know the hospital well and knew the floor he would try first. The elevator ride gave him a moment to consider going downstairs to the morgue first to see if there were any new arrivals he may be interested in, but he decided to stick with his plan of tracking down his original target.

As he stepped out of the elevator, he quickly averted his gaze toward the floor after recognizing a face that passed him to enter the elevator. He remembered the face as one of the newest members of the Five-0 team. The youthful, guileless look didn't befit the stereotype of the typical Navy SEAL, but the stocky build and obvious strength made up for it. Gabriel wasn't too concerned the person would recognize him, but he didn't want to take the chance. He would find out if his suspicion was correct shortly.

Everything seemed to be falling in line for him. The presence of the rookie had confirmed he had the correct floor, but had also intimated that the probability of the big boss man's survival had fallen to the side of likely. He turned to head down the corridor that would lead to the waiting area.

* * *

_~to be continued~_

\,,,/BronsonL


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** Decided to split a longer chapter into two. I'll try to get the next part up soon.

* * *

Tani had endured enough waiting. She slapped her thighs in determination and lighted her hands on the armrests to allow one more moment of self-cajoling before hoisting herself to standing once again. She had just sent Junior to try to catch up with Danny, knowing he shouldn't be alone right now but was rethinking her decision. She didn't want to be alone either. Maybe that's why she didn't snub the handsome hospital employee when he approached her with concern.

"Hey, you okay? You know, somebody will swipe this in an instant if you're not careful." He handed her phone to her. "You left it on the chair."

_You spying on me?_ Her daring disposition wanted to ask, but instead, gratefully accepted the device. "Thank you," she said while tilting the phone in his direction and then put it in her back pocket. She turned and walked toward the window.

"I… I guess you're waiting to hear about someone? How stupid of me, of course you're… You know what, I'm just going to leave you alone. It looks like you want to be by yourself."

He turned to leave and smiled when he heard, "Wait!" He turned to see the pretty brunette following after him.

"I'm sorry. I don't want to bother you," Gabriel Waincroft lied.

"No. Really. I'm the one who should be apologizing. You're right. I'm waiting to hear about my boss, I mean a friend, and I guess I'm a little on edge."

"Oh, I see. Is he going to be okay?"

"I didn't say my friend is a 'he'."

"Or she," he quickly backpedaled. "Is she going to be okay? Sorry. I guess I just assumed…"

Tani smiled to put the stranger at ease after his gaffe. "It's okay. I'm sure _he_ will be fine. He's got to be," she said more to herself than her company. "So, hey, I'm about to drive myself mad. Are you a doctor?" She didn't see any identification or credentials displayed.

"Oh, no. RN. I'm a nurse."

"Oh, sure. Of course. I just thought you could… well, maybe you'd be able to…"

"I may be able to help. Is your friend in surgery?"

"No. ICU, but they're not allowing any visitors. Not yet at least."

"ICU, huh?" He pondered the new information a moment. "Would you like me to see if I can get you in? What's his room number?"

"As tempting as that is, the doctor said it's best for him to not have visitors right now, so I think I'll decline the offer. Why would you risk getting in trouble? I don't even know you."

"How 'bout I remedy that. Would you like to go to the cafeteria to get a bite to eat? I just started my break."

Tani hesitated.

"Or maybe just some coffee? Come on. Don't _you_ need to take a break, too?"

Tani wasn't too naïve to know this handsome gentleman was turning on the smooth talk, but she was intrigued nonetheless. Pointing at the two empty cups on the end table, she said, "I'm just about coffee'd out. I could probably use a bite to eat though. Sure."

Gabriel smiled. "You'll be glad you did. Gotta keep up your energy."

"I'm Tani, by the way."

"Nice to meet you Tani. I'm… John."

He let Tani lead the way to the elevator as he looked back through the window of the doors that led to the intensive care unit.

~~~~~H50~~~~~

Danny slide-jogged in his loafers through the corridor of Five-0 headquarters and slammed the door open to the main bullpen area. He was relieved to see Jerry was busy at work at the main computer.

"Jerry, _please_ tell me you've got something."

"Oh, hey. How's McGarrett?"

"Still in ICU, still hit or miss," he spit out impatiently. "So... anything? Come on, Jer. Tell me what you got."

"What happened to your hand?" Jerry expressed concern as he just noticed the dark fabric wrapped around Danny's knuckles.

"Jerry! Please!"

Jerry switched to full-on professional mode. "We got the car on video, black 2018 Audi Q7."

"Nice car. Figures. Let me guess, stolen, or no plates maybe?"

"Actually, it's not been reported stolen and there were plates clearly visible."

Danny's forehead wrinkled as he raised his eyebrows in exasperation. "And? Who's it registered to?"

"We've got a name and address. John Smith at 110 Austin Lane. Right there." He pointed at a location on the map of Honolulu that was displayed on the computer. "Not exactly an address where you'd expect to find a car like that. And I'm a little skeptical about the name."

"Really, Jer?"

"So, you think so, too?" Jerry was pleased with his shared deduction.

"Little bit. Regular Columbo."

"Columbo, huh? I always thought Mannix was…"

Danny cut him off before he went down the rabbit hole. "What about Waincroft? Anything on him, yet?"

"Nothing yet. Everything I find shows he died in 2016. Are you sure?"

"Lou saw him with his own two eyes. I'm sure. What about his doctors? I know he was in bad shape when I last saw him, but somebody's covering up for him. I need the names of any medical personnel assigned to him after we took him in that day. Got it?"

"Yeah, got it. I'll pull their financials, too. It'll take some time, but I should be able to get something. So, uh, do you think we need to call Chin… or Kono even?"

"No. I don't think there's any need to worry them or disrupt their lives yet."

"What about McGarrett? Shouldn't they know?"

"Let's hold off. Til we know more, 'kay?" Danny looked down at his wrapped hand and went straight to Steve's office and opened a desk drawer. He laid some extraneous items on top of the desk to get them out of his way until he found what he was looking for.

"Really, Steve?" He set a flashbang on the desk and continued to rifle through the remaining contents. He finally found the roll of gauze. He removed the tee from his hand and sloppily wrapped the wound and secured it with some medical tape. He knew Steve had kept a stash of first aid items in his desk, thinking they would most likely be for his own use before it would ever be needed for another team member. Danny had made fun of him for it at one time and wished Steve was here now so he could again. And then, he'd reprimand him for having a stun grenade where a curious child, like Charlie, could find it.

Danny began talking again as soon as he came out of the office, wanting to follow up on his last request. "I asked Adam to hold off on contacting Kono. She'd just ask a lot of questions and Waincroft would come up. Then, she'd call Chin. I just think it's best if we wait."

"Whatever you think. Where is Adam anyway?"

"He's on his way to the hospital to check in with Tani and Junior."

"Hey! Where're you going? You're not going there alone are you?"

Danny was half way to the door when Junior entered and blocked his exit. "No, Jerry, wherever he's going, he's not going alone."

"What? Did Tani send you to be my babysitter?"

"No, sir. I want to find this guy as much as you."

"Doubt it, but come on. And don't slow me down."

"Copy that, sir. Wouldn't think of it."

Danny stopped at the door and hesitated just an instant. He then ran back into Steve's office and grabbed the flashbang and stuck it in his pocket.

"Should I send the address to Tani and Adam?!" Jerry yelled out after them.

"No!" Danny yelled without looking back.

Holding the door open, Junior took a moment before following Danny down the hall to nod to Jerry.

Jerry gave Junior a thumbs up but felt a little pang of uneasiness in disobeying the second in command, but something in his gut made him agree with Junior that some additional support may be needed.

* * *

_~to be continued~_

\,,,/BronsonL


	4. Chapter 4

"You've barely touched your food," Gabriel observed as Tani pushed a tomato around the plate with her fork.

"Yeah, sorry. I guess I'm not very good company, am I?"

"Completely understandable. So, you say you've been on this task force for over a year now? I'm new to the islands. I haven't heard of it."

"Oh yeah. It's kinda a big deal, commissioned and backed by the governor herself."

"Well, forgive me for being blunt, but do you have enough… experience… to be on a task force like that?"

"Most people would probably say no, but my…" Tani choked on her words and tried to cover the slip with an added cough. "… boss and his partner thought I had what it took to come on. They saw past some of my flaws and still thought I'd be an asset to the team. I was hesitant at first, to say the least. I was helping to fill some pretty big shoes, but I'm glad I gave it a shot. Best move I ever made."

"Big shoes?"

"Yeah, two of the original members moved on to other projects on the mainland."

"You don't say?"

"They were a big part of Five-0 and are missed. I'm just honored to be able to do what I can in their absence."

"Absence? Are they coming back?"

Tani shook her head. "The door's always open, but I don't think so. They're pretty settled from what I understand."

"Settled? Like… with families?"

Tani was getting more comfortable with her company and the light conversation was effective in taking her mind off of Steve. She finally took a bite of her salad. "Mm, hm." She dabbed at her lip with her napkin. "Well, Chin and his wife have a beautiful little girl and Kono… well she's been… well no children yet."

"And you?"

"Children? Oh, no. My younger brother is as close as I'll get for a while. Anyway, I don't think I'm 'mom' material and besides, I'm not involved with anyone right now. What about you?" She flipped the script. "Family?"

"My only sister died several years ago and I lost my wife not long after that."

"I'm so sorry," Tani genuinely felt bad for this stranger she was getting to know.

"I do have a daughter, though. It's been a while since I've seen her. She's with her uncle right now." Tani's phone buzzed in her back pocket and she regretted the timing. She pulled it out to see she had a new message.

"Anything wrong?" Gabriel asked.

Tani took a minute to read the message and quickly typed a reply. "Yeah, I'm going to have to go."

"Oh, I hate to hear it. I've enjoyed this little break. Maybe we can do it again sometime. I don't have my phone with me, but here, may I?" He held out his hand, reaching for her phone.

She gave it up to him and watched as he put in his name and number. He handed the device back to her. "I hope your friend shows improvement soon."

"Thank you. I appreciate it."

Gabriel said his goodbyes, but Tani lingered and he narrowed his eyes in confusion. Tani explained, "That text. One of our team members is on his way. I let him know where I was so he could meet me here."

From where he was sitting, Gabriel saw Adam before Tani. He tried to remain calm and not show the change in his demeanor. He knew he needed to get out of there fast. He had already taken a big chance of being seen by unwanted eyes. He lowered his head to avoid Adam's searching gaze and spoke normally to disguise his urgency. "Well, I need to get back to my shift." Gabriel had no choice now. He had to flee. Appearances be damned. He stood up, facing away from the familiar arrival.

"Wait, there he is now. Adam! Over here!"

Adam turned to see Tani waving her arm to call him over. Even with the somber circumstances, he still displayed his customary amiable smile as he neared her. He gave her a hug and asked, "So, how ya doing?"

"I'm okay. I'm okay."

"Have you heard anymore from Steve and Lou?"

"Steve's in ICU and still can't have visitors. Lou's awake and doing better. Renee's with him now. Hey, Adam, I want you to meet…" She turned with her hand raised, ready to make the introductions. "John?" She turned to look behind her and then back again the other way. Adam smiled but narrowed his eyes in confusion. "He was… he was just here a second ago."

"Who was it?"

"Oh, it was just… you know, never mind. We need to get going, right?"

"I guess you saw. Jerry got an address for the owner of the vehicle. He said Danny and Junior were on their way."

"We'd better hurry then." Tani took one more, quick look around and saw no one.

"What about Steve?" Adam asked before leaving.

"They've got my number and Lou's resting."

"I'm out this way." Adam pointed in a direction down the corridor, holding his keys with the same hand.

"Put your keys away. I'm driving," Tani insisted.

"My car's faster," Adam enticed.

"You're right." She grabbed his keys and headed in the direction he had pointed.

"Danny's right. You _are_ a female version of Steve."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

~~~~~H50~~~~~

The ride to the promising location had been a quiet one for the most part. Junior had not even mentioned the shattered windshield that he was forced to look through on the trip. He had a good guess of what had happened and felt that he may have done the same thing in Danny's shoes. In fact, he probably _had_ done something similar in expelling his frustration and rage while in the service, so he reserved all judgement. Danny appreciated the omission of questions about it and respected him for not even asking.

The silence was broken on one occasion when Junior decided to ask about their mark. "Is there anything I need to know about this guy… Gabriel?"

"We thought he had died. He should have died. Somehow, the son of a bitch survived. Made a deal with the devil or whatever it took to make it back here and exact his revenge on us." Danny harrumphed at the humor of his next thought. "We _all_ almost died because we were trying to save his sorry ass. Fought off a damned Yakuza army to get him to the hospital safely after he'd been shot, just so he would live and we could put him in prison for the rest of his pathetic life. I wish we had let the asshole die. Maybe Steve wouldn't be fighting for his own life right now."

"If I may, sir, it doesn't do any good to second-guess what's been done. You just have to work the problem. Plan your tactics for the current operation and adapt to what's thrown at you."

"You're right, but if I'm given the opportunity again, I'm going to adapt my tactics with Steve and Lou in mind."

"Copy that." Junior allowed a slight giggle. "Me too."

Danny smiled. He was liking this guy more and more.

The small, shack-like house appeared to be unoccupied when they pulled up. There was no parking set aside for the property, so they had to park in the street. Vertical bars were on the windows, matching the water damaged, pale gray vertical plank siding. What appeared to be bed sheets, one seafoam green and the other, tangerine orange, were stretched out over the inside of the windows in place of curtains, blocking the view of the interior.

Danny led the way, both with their side arms drawn. The chain-link gate screeched when Danny lifted the handle and pushed it open. He quickly set up a post on one side of the door as Junior took the other side.

"I'll take this door. You go around back," Danny whispered. Junior hesitated. He had not known his superior that long, but he had not witnessed the cold seriousness before in the face he was now seeing. Much like many prior SEAL missions, he embraced his acceptance of the possible end result with a long, calming breath. He joined Danny in their unspoken shared desire and nodded in compliance before agilely leaving Danny on his own.

Danny's heart pounded as the possibility of sweet, satisfying retribution to Steve's killer hit him full in the face. _If Gabriel was in here, he would pay._

' _Danny, remember who you are.'_ Steve's voice assaulted his thinking.

"Get outta my head, Steven," he whispered as hot adrenaline pumped through his veins in anticipation. He swept his left arm across his sweat laden brow. He first tried the door to see if it was open. As expected, it was locked. Then he robustly pounded on the door, "Five-0! Open up!"

Nothing… no sound was heard. Danny thought about giving any occupants a countdown in warning but chose to give in to his impatience instead. He turned and kicked open the old, brittle door with ease. At hearing the breach, Junior was in the back entrance immediately after. The domicile was so small, they were able to clear it in a matter of seconds.

Realization settled over him, but this time Junior was there to come between his rage and the wall. His quick reaction stopped Danny's fist with the palm of his hand. "It's not worth it. We'll get another chance," Junior soothed as he looked him directly in the eyes to make sure he had his full attention.

With his gun still in his hand, Danny's shoulders slouched and he let his arms drop to his sides. This had been it. His opportunity dissolved in front of his eyes. "What am I doing?" he spoke to himself. He then spoke to Junior. "Huh? What the hell are we doing here? I need to get back to Steve. I should be _there_."

"Come on. Maybe we can find something that will clue us in to where he is." Refusing to give up, Junior left Danny to start searching in another room.

"HPD can handle that. Let's get outta here." Danny was headed for the front door that he had kicked in when he heard Junior call out to stop him.

"Detective Williams! Wait! Come check this out."

As small as the house was, there was still a separate dining area off the kitchen. Danny followed Junior's voice into this room. A single bottle of scotch and a lowball glass were sitting on the antiquated metal-rimmed table. Under the glass that contained about an ounce of the dark amber libation was a plain white envelope, blank, except for one name written on the outside: "Chin Ho".

* * *

_~to be continued~_

\,,,/BronsonL


	5. Chapter 5

' _Come and get me'_

Danny silently read the dare, comprised of the four simplistic words, a second time. The envelope had not been sealed. He hadn't so much as glanced at Junior for any kind of approval before pulling the single folded page out to see what Gabriel had left for his designated recipient.

Junior had seen the name on the envelope and felt a flutter of misgiving as he watched his superior hastily open and read the note that clearly was not meant for him. He wondered if Commander McGarrett would have done the same if the roles were reversed. He wished his fellow SEAL was here now. He didn't hold anything against Detective Williams, but McGarrett shared the same military training and experiences and ever since he had stepped onto his stoop that day a little over a year ago, he felt an unspoken collegial connection. It was safe to say his comfort level with the Detective's decisions were not as honed as they would have been with the Commander's.

"Sir?"

There was no response as his sense of unease persisted.

"Sir? Do you think…" His appeal was cut off when he heard the Five-0 identification warning shouted out by a familiar voice. He leaned into the adjoining living room to greet the new arrivals.

Tani came through the door first with Adam just a step behind. Both had their firearms drawn, but as soon as they saw Junior and that he had let down his guard in favor of something else that had his and Danny's attention, they holstered their guns and approached their team members.

"Danny?" Tani uttered.

"Everything okay here?" Adam followed up.

"Oh, hey." As soon as Danny heard Adam's voice, he quickly folded the note and stuffed it into his pants pocket, out of sight, with the unneeded flash bang that had also been stowed there earlier. He briefly made eye contact with Junior and read his consternation but was unaffected. "Well if you call coming up empty 'okay', then yeah, everything's peachy."

"I take it you found the place abandoned?" Adam ignored the snarky tone.

"Oh, I think we'll get a match on the fingerprints on this glass. I think it was left for us to find on purpose." He again glanced at Junior to see if he had anything to add about the note and was pleased to see he did not, even in his obvious disagreement.

"Is this even real?" Adam wondered aloud. "How can this be happening? He was dead."

Danny sympathized with Adam's lack of belief that a foe such as Gabriel could be back after they had been so sure he had been dealt with decisively. "Oh, it's real. Junior, get forensics to sweep this place and have them start with the glass. I'm pretty sure Waincroft's left his calling card as a gift minus a pretty bow."

"Copy that, sir," Junior acknowledged.

"Let's meet up with Jerry and regroup back at the office." Danny felt the walls of the small house closing in on him and he needed to get air. He tried to pass by Tani and Adam to get outside as fast as he could, but Adam grabbed his arm.

"Danny, I…"

Danny stopped abruptly and locked eyes with Adam. "I know," he interrupted. "I know." That was all that was needed in the moment. Danny understood the conflict and turmoil that must be raging in Adam. He didn't have an answer for him. There was nothing he could say that would fix the situation. He could only let him know that he was not alone.

The unspoken words conveyed what they needed. Adam _knew_ that he got it. Gabriel had made their lives hell a few short years ago. There was no way that either of them would let it happen again.

"I gotta get out of here," Danny admitted.

Adam released his hold and nodded before slapping his back in a brotherly gesture of encouragement.

Even outside of the claustrophobic setting, Danny still didn't get relief. Just breathing was a chore as he tried to mentally sort through the quagmire of a mixture of worry, anger, regret, indecision and to top it all off he had to hold it together so he can locate and deal with Gabriel.

"Is he okay?" Tani asked Junior, as if their extra brief time together would clue him in.

This was his opportunity to divulge the note to the others. He looked at Tani then to Adam and back to Tani. _He should tell them. They need to know..._ "Yeah, he's fine," Junior mumbled his cop-out then passed between the two to follow Danny outside.

Junior found Danny leaning over with his hands resting on his knees, but as soon as Danny saw he was not alone, he arose, unwilling to show any weakness. "You ready?" He began to walk toward the car.

"Hey, how 'bout you let me drive?" Junior offered.

Danny stopped in his tracks and looked at Junior as if Charlie had offered to drive. Without saying a word, he resumed his walk and went straight to the driver's side. Junior shrugged and took shotgun.

~~~~~H50~~~~~

"Look, Adam and Gabriel have history. It's… sensitive." Junior hadn't asked for an explanation. In fact, it had been eerily quiet in the car for the last five minutes. Danny had squirmed in his seat and took turns fidgeting with the grip on the steering wheel with one hand and then with the gear stick in the other. "If Adam had seen that note, I'd have a bigger problem on my hands."

"It's your call."

Continuing to answer Junior's unasked questions, Danny explained further, "He's killed who knows how many people, he tortured Kono and Adam, stole Adam's money which led to the fiasco of a gang war and Adam going to jail for killing a couple of Yakuza henchmen that deserved it anyway. For God's sake, he _shot_ Adam, thankfully didn't kill him, but came this close to causing him to never walk again." Danny held up his thumb and finger showing the sliver of luck that Adam had been afforded. He took his eyes off the road for an instant to see Junior's mouth agape at what he was hearing. Danny was spilling his bottled-up rage and the flow couldn't be stopped. "And Chin? He almost went to prison because of him, too. Hell, the son of a bitch shot and killed his father."

"I… I didn't know." To this point, the only thing that Junior knew about Gabriel was that he had attempted to kill Steve, and time would tell if he may still be successful in that endeavor. That in itself was enough, but he had no idea of the other mountain of depraved transgressions this man had committed.

"You get it, now? You get why I can't light that fuse yet? We've got to be smart. We've got to do this right and I need time to think."

"I get it." Junior waited another half minute and followed with, "I do."

"Okay." Danny had gotten out the pent-up fury and had wound down.

"You _do_ need time to think about it. And I know that normally you've got Steve to help you with this kind of stuff, but just know… if you need to… you can bounce anything you need to off of me, or Tani, or Jerry for that matter. Even Captain Grover should be able to help soon."

"Thanks, I appreciate that."

"You're welcome. I just can't help but wonder if it wouldn't be best to contact Lieutenant Kelly? Maybe that's what it'd take to pull the guy out of hiding and it sure wouldn't hurt having the extra help."

"I don't know. I mean, yeah, probably, but not yet. I'm hoping it doesn't come to that. I got to get a handle on this, on Gabriel. I'd love to take him out of commission first. I want him to be in custody… or truly dead when I make that call to Chin and Kono."

"And what if… "

"What if Steve dies? You can say it. They'll be mad at me if they find out I didn't let them know about Steve, but right now, I'm going to take that chance. And _if_ Steve dies, it'll be option B for Mr. Waincroft. Let's take one thing at a time. Okay?"

Before Junior could reply, Danny's phone buzzed. He glanced at the ID. Danny felt like his heart had dropped into his stomach when he saw the caller. He pulled over to the side of the road before answering. "It's the hospital," Danny revealed to Junior. Stifling trepidation filled the car as Danny ran the back of his hand across his brow and watched his finger tremble uncontrollably as it touched the phone to answer.

"This is Danny Williams." Junior heard the panic despite the valiant, but unsuccessful, effort to conceal it. Then Junior was privy to one side of the conversation.

"Okay? … He is?" Danny turned the phone away from his mouth so he could blow out a slow, cleansing breath without it being heard by whomever was on the other side of the conversation. "Starting when? I see. … Yes, yes, of course. And you're sure? Thank you, doctor, for calling and letting me know. I'll be there. Thank you… uh, thank you, again. … Uh-huh, bye." Danny disconnected the call and stared out the windshield as cars whirred by. He rubbed his hand over his mouth and then after taking what seemed to Junior, an unreasonably long time, finally explained.

"I can get in to see him."

"He's okay? That wasn't bad news?" Junior was having to piece together the clues as best he could.

"It wasn't bad news. They're going to let him have visitors starting in about an hour, one at a time and in short intervals. This could change. They have to monitor him closely, but they think he's stabilized sufficiently."

Only six and a half hours in and the doctors felt that Steve could have visitors already. It wasn't lost on Danny that SuperSEAL was ahead of schedule for this milestone, in typical Steve fashion, and he grabbed on to the hope that this must be a positive sign.

"That gives us time. We'll go ahead and meet up with the others at HQ first to catch everyone up and set up a game plan for our next move before I head over." Although small and hesitant, Danny smiled for the first time since he landed on the island earlier that morning. "That son of a bitch," he mumbled to himself as he pulled into traffic. "Should have known."

~~~~~H50~~~~~

Danny was steps ahead of Junior as they entered the bullpen. "Jerry, you got anymore? I don't have a lot of time."

"The forensics team was able to send the fingerprints over to the lab from the site. DNA will take longer, but we already got a positive ID on the prints." Jerry swiped Gabriel's image onto the screen. "No surprises."

"'kay, you got anything I don't already know?"

Jerry felt a little deflated. His boss may have not needed the confirmation, but he hadn't been as sure and felt the information was more pertinent than Danny's disparaging reaction implied. He brushed it off and continued, "They're still going over the house to see if they can come up with anything and HPD's issued a BOLO on the Audi. Nothing yet."

"All right. Get with Duke. I want _anyone_ on the force who has a CI to get with them. We need ears to the ground. Let's even check in with Kamekona. He may have heard of a ripple of something new and not even realized it could be Waincroft. … What's keeping Adam and Tani? … I want anyone serving time at Halawa, that has ever been within ten feet of Waincroft, to be interviewed. If one of 'em wants to sing, I'll want to be there personally."

"Hey, sorry we're late," Tani apologized as they joined their team. "There was a wreck on King Street. You must have just missed it. So, what did we miss?"

"We got a confirmation that the prints are indeed Waincroft's," Junior jumped in. "Detective Williams is going over our next course of action."

Danny backtracked and began to repeat his instructions for the new arrivals. As he spoke, Tani was taking mental notes. She leaned on the table and glanced up at the screen and did a double take. "That's John!" she interrupted. "What's John doing up there?"

* * *

_~to be continued~_

\,,,/BronsonL


	6. Chapter 6

"What's John doing up there?" Tani was perplexed.

Danny stopped mid-sentence and looked up at the monitor as well. "What?"

"Tani, that's Gabriel," Adam corrected.

"Noooo," she drew out her contention with a smile and little snicker. " _That's_ John." She pointed at the screen emphasizing her certitude.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Danny realized this was coming from somewhere and didn't like the direction it was headed. "That's the asshole that shot Lou and Steve." Danny's voice was rising without him realizing it.

"Guys. … Come on," she pleaded, certain they were trying to get something over on her. "Guys?" The others weren't laughing. They weren't even smiling. They were looking at her with bewilderment. Her grin faded with her reluctance to accept what they were telling her.

A shiver of dread ran through Danny's spine. His confusion grew into impatience as he deliberately spoke, "I don't know how else to say it. _That_ is Gabriel Waincroft. Have you _seen_ him? Tani? Where did you see that man?"

"But he… I…" Tani had become flustered.

Adam stepped directly in front of Tani and put his hands on her upper arms in an attempt to calm her. He spoke to her as though they were the only two in the room. "Is that _him_? Is _that_ who you met at the hospital?"

"What?!" Danny stepped closer now. "What did you say?"

Adam held up one finger to Danny without taking his eyes off Tani to beg a chance to continue his questioning. Danny must have sensed Adam's approach may have merit and yielded because Adam didn't hear a forthcoming objection. "You said his name was John."

"I… I don't understand. Yeah, that's him. He was so nice."

"Son of a bitch!" Danny spit out, unable to hold it any longer.

"Oh, God. He said he had a sister and wife that had died and that…" Tani hesitated.

"What?" Adam urged.

"… and that he had a daughter… who lives with her uncle."

Jerry and Junior were stupefied and remained speechless. Danny spun around and was combing both hands through his hair. Almost as quickly as he did his one-eighty, he turned back. "Tani, you're coming with me. We need to talk. Adam, Jerry, whoever, call the hospital, now!" He was backing towards the door as he spoke. "Call Duke, double check on Steve and Lou's security detail. I want that place locked down! Let's go," he pressed Tani to hurry.

"Oh, God," she repeated as she stood frozen. "What have I done?"

"Hey, you didn't know," Junior placated with an encouraging smile.

"I'm sorry," she whispered to no one in particular. Then she realized Adam was still standing there and she addressed him personally, "I'm sorry."

Adam could feel the subtle tremble and see the swirl of guilt in her eyes.

"Tani! Let's go!"

She jumped at Danny's harsh command.

"Now!" Danny's impatience was evident, spurred on by his worry.

"It's okay," Adam softly reassured. "Go with Danny and we'll be there shortly."

"Yeah, yeah. Okay." She finally came to herself and took after Danny.

~~~~~H50~~~~~

Renee looked up from her book and noticed a couple of uniformed police officers walking determinedly down the hallway outside the door. Then the officer stationed outside of Lou's room grabbed at the radio on his shoulder and spoke into it. He immediately turned to look into the room before speaking to an unknown person on the other end. She looked over at her sleeping husband, closed her book, and casually strolled over to the door. She opened it and asked the young man stationed outside if something was going on that she should know about.

"We've been asked to make sure you and your husband stay inside the room for the time being. They're bumping up security and another officer will be joining me."

"What's happened?"

"I'm sorry. I don't have any more information right now."

"Please, if my husband's in danger, I have the right to know."

"I'm sorry, ma'am. I can't tell you what I don't know."

Hearing the interaction at the door, Lou awoke from his light sleep. "Baby? Hey, what's going on?" he called out to Renee at the door.

The officer heard as well and stepped in after Renee to address his question. "We just got orders to lock down the hospital, Captain. That includes asking that you and your wife stay in this room for now."

"Well, my husband is obviously not going anywhere and therefore, neither am I," Renee spoke scornfully.

"Sweetie, it's okay. The nice officer, here, is just following orders. I'm sure everything is just fine. Riiiight, Officer Kunola?" Lou had pushed himself up and off of the pillows behind him. One eyebrow rose with his voice as he willfully guided the posted security officer to follow his lead.

"Uh, yes, sir. Everything's fine, sir."

"See? Everything's fine," Lou reinforced to his wife with a wink and a smile. He then asked the guard, "And when do you think you'll have more information for us?" With eyebrows raised, his smile persisted, as he awaited his answer.

"I'm told Detective Williams is on his way. I'm sure he'll be able to tell you more."

"Thank you, Officer. See, no need to worry," he tenderly pacified his wife.

Lou's smile changed to a frown as soon as the guard left and Renee was turned away to see him out. He knew this had something to do with Gabriel and was eager to hear what Danny had to say.

~~~~~H50~~~~~

The ride to the hospital had been a fast one considering Danny had used his lights and sirens. Even Steve would be impressed, and probably proud, at his uncharacteristically unrestrained driving. However, even in the short period that he was alone with Tani, he was able to get a brief account of her contact with Gabriel. What concerned him most from their conversation was Gabriel's invitation to help her gain access to Steve. He had been wearing the garb of a hospital employee and had unsuccessfully tried to entice her to break doctor's orders, thereby showing his card of his access to his partner.

A wave of anger coursed through him at the thought of Gabriel having access to Steve in his delicate, vulnerable state. If anything happened to Steve, while undergoing medical care, in what was supposed to be a safe place for healing, Danny didn't know if he would be able to forgive himself for leaving his partner there alone.

Danny felt only vaguely better at seeing the added police presence outside the hospital. Duke had definitely come through, but he needed to make sure his ohana was okay for himself. He carried his badge in his hand, ready to display it, or in his current state of mind, to prop it on the nose of anyone who dared stop him from getting access to where he wanted to go, and right now he wanted to get to Steve.

Besides the extra uniforms milling about and those stationed at entry and exit areas of main doors, the atmosphere was casual and routine.

"Go to the security office and check the cameras. Call me _immediately_ if you see anything," he ordered Tani.

"Got it. Tell him I said hello," Tani endearingly kidded, conveying her positivity and simultaneously letting him know she knew where he would be without him having to tell her.

The lighthearted request helped to settle his nerves a bit. He appreciated it and nodded before going their separate ways.

When he entered the intensive care corridor, he didn't have to ask which room was Steve's. There were two officers, whom he knew personally, thanks to Duke he was sure, stolidly guarding a door to his left. Knowing he wouldn't need it, he clipped his badge back on his belt.

He didn't waste any time. "Has anyone been in this room since the start of your post?"

"Just medical personnel."

"Male or female?"

"One male, one female."

"Would you recognize the male?" He pulled his phone out and held up Gabriel's image for them to see. "Is this him?"

"No, no, not the one I saw. Doesn't look right." The other officer just shook his head in agreement.

With a reserved smile and nod to acknowledge his appreciation, he started to enter the room but was stopped by the guard's arm blockading his path. _Maybe he was going to have a fight on his hands after all._

"I'm not sure if you can have your phone turned on in there with the equipment and all."

Relaxing a bit at the actual reason for the delay, he impatiently shoved the phone into the officer's chest. "Here, just take it. I'll get it on the way out."

Without a doctor's expressed permission, he stepped into Steve's room. His prior conversation with Steve's doctor coupled with his current concern was all the consent he needed.

As soon as he stepped in, the velocity of his day slowed like a diver hitting water. Even the stagnant time in the waiting room earlier that day had had a restless energy that didn't come close to the calm that now enveloped Danny. Even with the lulling, rhythmic sounds of the standard medical equipment, the room conveyed silence. The chaos of the day seemed to melt away when he saw Steve.

He stood where he had entered and observed his surroundings. The primary thing he noticed was Steve was breathing. He was not on a ventilator. He was wearing an oxygen mask, but the obnoxious, ridiculing sound of a ventilator was not there. Steve's chest was rising and falling on his own. Danny exhaled slowly from the revelation. He should have paid closer attention when the doctor gave details of his status. He was breathing on his own and appeared to be very peaceful and not in distress in any way.

He had been wrong. Gabriel had not tried anything.

Danny was able to experience some aberrant form of relief, albeit still mixed with a nagging trepidation of what Gabriel's little game with Tani had been about.

"Hey, Steve... how ya doing?" His mind formed the word ' _fine'_ and one side of his mouth turned up at the thought. "Hey, Tani said 'hi' … so, yeah, hi." His voice faded as he felt foolish.

He wanted him to wake up. He wanted him to hear what he was saying. Then he had the thought that maybe he did hear him. He finally stepped nearer to the bed and put his bandaged hand on the rail, still afraid his touch may cause him harm. "You sure did a bang-up job at making us all worry. No pun…," he started to add but chose to swat the air in dismissal of the fatuous comment instead. "Hope you're happy."

He turned when he heard the sound of the door opening. It was Dr. Patterson. "I _thought_ I saw you come in here."

"Uh, yeah, doc, we had gotten some intel that he may be in danger."

"You mean 'in danger' other than his current health condition." He didn't give Danny time to respond to his jab. "No, believe me, I noticed the increased police presence. Not too comforting to the other patients and visitors. Makes them think something's wrong."

"Look, sorry about that, but something _is_ wrong. The maniac that put two of my team members in here has been seen here… at the hospital… since they were admitted." Danny was wondering if the doctor was getting it. His voice was rising with his frustration. He visibly turned down his anger as he glanced to Steve as though his volume were going to disturb him.

"He can't hear you. He's way too medicated."

"I don't think I believe that. I'm going to assume he can. 'kay?"

"Suit yourself. Your hand okay?"

"It's nothing. It's fine." He couldn't help but smirk at how quickly the familiar word spilled out. "We'll reevaluate the threat level and make a revision to security if it's warranted. Until then, you're going to see more of HPD and Five-0." Danny raised an eyebrow at the doctor, daring him to challenge him on that. "So, how's he doing?"

The doctor took his que and shifted gears also. "Quite well, actually. Not out of the woods by any means, but well. I'm somewhat surprised." He walked around the bed to get to the keyboard to check the stats from the last nurse's visit so he could report accurately. "That's why I called you. He's stabilized and from what I understand, he's ahead of our anticipated schedule."

"I'm not… surprised, that is. If anybody's going to beat this thing ahead of schedule, it's going to be him."

Dr. Patterson prepared to type, but paused when something caught his attention. "What's this?" He picked up a piece of paper that was partially held in place under the keyboard. "Is this a friend or relative?" He brought the paper over to Danny and held it out to him.

Danny saw that it wasn't just a piece of paper, but a photograph. He took the photo in his hand and stared at it. "No, no." He nervously laughed complete with a timid grin.

Dr. Patterson returned the smile thinking this must be a pleasant surprise of some kind.

"Eh, heh," Danny added another giggle. "You gotta be kidding me." He hardily flicked the paper with his fingers. "You gotta be f*cking kidding me."

* * *

_~to be continued~_

\,,,/BronsonL


	7. Chapter 7

The doctor's smile faded when he caught on to Danny's actual emotional state. "Detective, is that not yours? Is something wrong?"

"You could say that. And this sure as hell isn't mine… or his." He twitched his head in Steve's direction. "Damn it." He squeezed his eyes closed and vigorously rubbed his forehead. "All right," he conceded. "He wins."

The doctor noticed the wrinkles around Danny's eyes disappear. His facial muscles relaxed and his shoulders slumped. He couldn't tell if it was resignation or a deeply buried, festering anger. A light rapping on the door broke the mood before it opened.

"Sir, your phone is buzzing. Says it's… Tani Rey?" the guard at the door informed. "Thought it could be important."

Danny looked back questioningly at the doctor. "Is it okay to take it in here?"

"Yes, it won't disrupt the equipment," he gave permission before resuming checking the computer.

"Tani?"

"How's Steve?"

"He's fine. He's okay, but Waincroft was here… in his room."

"What? How do you know? He was caught on camera going through ICU doors, but there are no cameras trained on the rooms. You said Steve is okay?"

"He is, but once again Gabriel's left us a little present. I'll show you later. What about Lou? Have you checked on him?"

"Yep. He's fine and no mention of seeing Gabriel. I think he was spared a visit. I gave him a rundown of what was going on and he's a bit fidgety to get out of this… how'd he say it?… 'sick people's palace' and helping us. Well, good thing is, we know Gabriel's gone. We got him on camera leaving, but thought you may want to see something we found on the footage."

"Can you just send it to me?"

"Sure thing, then I'll be up in a minute."

Danny received the link and watched the video of Gabriel winking and smiling up at the lobby camera three times before taking the doctor's advice and stepping outside of the room. Dr. Patterson had watched the detective's inflamed mood calm and turn colder with each viewing.

"Are you sure?" Danny asked the guard. "Are you sure this guy has not been in this room? Even wearing scrubs?" He handed the officer his newly acquired photo.

The officer took care to look at the photograph carefully. "No, sir. Not since _we've_ been here, but we took over after the lockdown was issued. Maybe it was before that. There _was_ just one guard then, and we relieved him after being on duty for hours."

"Possible. He had a lot of time before the lockdown. All right, maintain your positions and check everyone that comes in. The doctor will get you a list of only those that are approved and besides that, I don't expect you to see him, but at least you've got a face to look out for now. Copy?"

"Yes, sir. Copy."

"Copy that," the other quieter officer acknowledged after Danny looked to him for an answer as well.

"Danny?" He turned to see Tani approaching and slid the photo into his shirt pocket. "Did you see?" Danny nodded his answer. "Can you _believe_ that? What a smug prick."

Danny agreed but had something else on his mind. "Call Jerry and have him get with HPD to find out who the guard was that was stationed at Steve's room before the shift change. We need to question him about what he saw. Also have him coordinate with the hospital's security office. We need to check the parking lot cameras and see if he's in the same vehicle or a different one or if he had a ride and then he needs to check the traffic cameras in the area at that time. Maybe we'll get lucky."

"Sure thing. Got it." Tani pulled her phone from her back pocket to make the call. "Oh no. Oh, shit."

"What?"

"Damn it!"

"What, Tani? What is it?" Danny was getting irritated.

"I forgot. I totally forgot."

"You forgot, what?"

"When I was with… Gabriel, when I thought he was just some nice guy, I let him have my phone and he put his number in so I could call him sometime. See, right there between Jerry and Juns." She handed over her phone.

Danny read the contact, 'John'. He looked around at his surroundings and headed to a turn of the corridor where there was a small, unoccupied sitting area in front of a line of windows. While holding Tani's phone in one hand, he pulled out his own and called Jerry himself.

"Jerry, I need you to do something for me. Can you run a phone number through the system and then can you run a trace on a phone call that I'm about to make from Tani's phone to that number?"

"No problem. What's the number?"

Danny read off the number.

"Got it," Jerry said.

"I'm sure it's a burner, but we still need to check. I'm more concerned with getting a location on it when I call."

"You're correct. It is a burner and if you give me juuust, anooother, minuuute, there, ready. You can now make the call when you're ready."

Tani had followed Danny and was standing behind him as Danny gazed out the window. He had dialed the number and put the phone to his ear.

"Took you long enough."

There it was… the voice he had remembered. A true shiver ran down his back. He _had_ returned from the dead. "Gabriel, or… should I call you John?" Danny's voice was calm and cold. He knew he had to try to make the call last as long as possible, therefore he needed to control his own temper. He took in a deep breath and focused.

"Detective Williams? Is that you? Damn. I was hoping it was going to be that pretty little thing you've got working for you now. Gabriel's fine, but did you like that, though? John? John Smith?"

Danny heard cackling laughter on the other end of the phone. "You think this is funny? Tell me what kind of game you're playing. You know, better yet, why don't we just meet some place where he can talk, man to man?"

"Hmm, interesting proposal. I'll think on that. By the way, how are Barney and Andy doing? You know, never mind. I already know."

More laughter taunted Danny. "Why did you do it? Where have you been all this time?"

"Eh, eh, I know you're tracing the call, so my time's limited. We'll have to save it for later, but I do want to know one thing. Did Chin get my message?"

"What message?"

"Now who's playing games? I know you went to that ramshackle of a house. Tell him, Detective. I want him to be the one to answer my next call. Got it?"

"He's not… Gabriel?! Waincroft!" The connection had gone dead. He held the phone away from him staring at the screen for a moment, then he held his own phone up to his ear. "Jerry, did you get that? Tell me you got a location."

"Three more seconds would have done it, but no, he must have been timing, also."

"Can you ping it?"

"Already tried. It's been inactivated. Must have turned it off immediately after the call."

"Damn!" Danny's frustration was palpable. Tani overheard his side of the conversations and knew this had been a dead end. She laid a supportive but penitent hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Danny. I should have thought of it sooner. I don't know why…"

Danny had started shaking his head as soon as she began to apologize. "Uh, uhn. Wouldn't have done any good. He was waiting for that call and was prepared. Now he's got your number and can call at any time."

"Earlier, you said he had left a gift in Steve's room. What were you talking about?"

Danny took both phones into one hand, reluctant to give Tani's back to her yet. He slipped the photograph out of his pocket and reached it to her. "Take a look at this. I think this is what he's after."

Tani stared down at a cheerful image of the man she had come to know as 'John', squatting down with his arms around a toddler. The toddler was a precious little dark-haired girl, wearing a pink polka dot Minnie Mouse jumper, and was captured in the middle of a laugh, maybe from a recent tickle to her side. The man was gazing adoringly at the tot while also smiling broadly with a hint of guilt, probably from being the tickle culprit.

"That little girl," Danny explained, "...is Sara Diaz, otherwise known as Sara… Waincroft, Gabriel's daughter, otherwise known as…. Lieutenant Chin Ho Kelly's niece."

~~~~~H50~~~~~

Danny stood between the weathered chairs and the white spume that crept closer and closer to his feet on the beach… their beach. Technically, it was Steve's portion of beach, but he would not be able to count the hours that he'd spent there with his best friend, rehashing cases, burying past regrets, delving into hopes for the future, and of course his favorite, and he was sure Steve's as well, bantering, arguing, quibbling, and teasing each other. It felt like _their_ beach.

This time here alone, although he'd rather be there with his brother, allowed him to think more clearly than a hospital room with the intermittent but ceaseless visits of caregivers, or the silence of his office, or even the solitude of inside his quiet car. This was where he needed to be, listening to the monotonous swash of the breaking waves. _His ten-year younger self would have never believed it. Maybe his justification was that this was as close to the comforting drone of a noisy city as he could get._

With his arms crossed over his body, an untasted Longboard beer that he had hastily grabbed from the fridge on his way out the back door was losing its chill as it dangled from two fingers clamped on either side of the neck. The sun was setting quickly on this day that, to Danny, seemed eternal.

The decision had already been made back at the hospital when the photo had been handed to him. He had finally given in, even before his conversation with Gabriel. After all of his internal struggling and resistance, the actual decision had ironically come to him easily. Now, however, the forging of the composition was going to be the tricky part.

He dropped his arms and carried his beer to the chair that Steve would usually claim. After sitting, he propped the bottle in the sand by his feet and twisted so he could finagle his phone from his pocket. The device blacked out and had to be unlocked multiple times as he worked through his wavering. Finally, one attempt was successful. The phone was ringing on the other end.

"Hey, Chin. It's Danny. Hope I'm not catching you at a bad time…"

* * *

_~to be continued~_

\,,,/BronsonL


	8. Chapter 8

Danny quickened his pace after he flew through the glass doors of the hospital and saw Chin walking toward him with his characteristic, but somewhat hesitant, smile. They met at the curb.

"Hey. Hey Danny, good to see you," Chin said fondly.

"Hey, babe, good to see you, too." They embraced in a hug. After mutual pats on the back, they both instinctively started walking toward the door. "You're looking good. That California air must not be that bad after all."

"I guess, but it's good to be back on the island."

"Well, I'm glad you feel that way. Sorry it has to be under these circumstances. Speaking of, how are Abby and Sara?"

"They're good. They're safe. I made sure they had extra security with them while I'm gone. Didn't think it'd be a good idea for them to come with me. Abby put up a fight, but I convinced her that I'd feel more at ease if she stayed with Sara."

"No, I agree. It's best if they're not on this island right now." Danny pushed the elevator button in the lobby.

"Right. So, before we get into the reason for that, how is Steve doing?"

Danny's face lit up in a smile. "Why don't you ask him yourself?"

"He's awake?" Chin's eyes got wide with elation. "Really?"

Danny nodded. "Yep, really… just before you texted me. I mean _literally,_ right before I got your text. Well, technically he came out of it the first night, but only for short spurts on and off and _those_ times he wasn't aware… due to the drugs and a fever he had developed from an infection," Danny explained. "They've gotten that under control now, but anyway, this time the boy is back. He was just starting to ask questions, but I got your text, so I told him I had a surprise for him and ducked out. You kind of saved me from having to explain anything."

"So, he doesn't know about… Gabriel?" Chin asked hesitantly as they stepped onto their floor.

"No, I… I don't know if that would be for the best, at least for the time being."

"Won't he wonder about the guard?" Chin pointed at the officer still posted outside his door. The threat level had been lowered after they had gotten video proof that Gabriel had left the hospital. It would be almost impossible for him to get back inside with the measures Danny had put in place, therefore there was now only one officer assigned to Steve's room.

They paused outside the room. "Oh, I'm sure. When I left him to meet you downstairs, the doctor was going in to check on him since he had just woken up. He'll find out he's here because of a sniper. That may be enough explanation for now."

"If you're lucky," Chin said skeptically. "What about Lou? How's he doing?"

"Went home yesterday morning. Tough to keep the big guy down. He's already wanting to go to the office to help the kids, crutches and all."

"Kids?"

Danny chuckled. "Tani Rey and Junior Reigns. You've heard of them."

"Yeah, yeah, of course. I hear they're fitting right in and doing a great job."

"We sure do miss you and Kono, but yeah, they're great. Don't tell them I said that. Oh well, they wouldn't believe it anyway, coming from me. Tani's a lot like Kono, she's tough as nails and pretty much a female version of Steve."

"Oh, no. You don't say," Chin teased.

"You'll see. And Junior Reigns? Well, he's the Eddie Haskell of Navy SEALS, only genuine. Genuine to the core. Can get on your nerves with his incessant politeness, but man, is he tough and loyal to a fault. They've both added a lot to the team." They both smiled. "And I don't know if you've heard this, but Adam drank the Kool-Aid and has come on as the newest member of Five-0. He's been a great asset, too."

"Yes, I _had_ heard that. Kono had actually told me. They still keep in touch," Chin explained the assumed question. "I'm glad he's found something to… " _replace_ _his failed marriage_ , "well, you know."

"Yeah, I know. It was a little rough there for a while, but I think he's found his niche. He's doing better. Hey, so what about Kono? I thought she might be with you."

"Oh, she's coming. Couldn't keep her away from this one, but she's flying out of Denver. I was going to be there to meet her at the airport when she arrived, but Adam volunteered."

"Is that going to work all right?"

Chin shrugged. "I guess we'll find out."

Steve's door opened and Dr. Patterson walked out rubbing in the last of some sanitizer foam. "Ah, Detective, I'm glad you're here."

"Doc, I'd like you to meet Lieutenant Chin Ho Kelly, formerly of Five-0 but runs his own team out of San Francisco now."

The doctor shook Chin's hand. "Nice to meet you. You've gotten here at a good time. The commander's awake and lucid. I think he's eager to talk to you, Detective."

"Figured that. So, he's doing okay? Asking to go for a swim yet?"

The doctor chuckled a little. "If he does, I'll advise against that. No, he's doing well for what he's been through. We'll give him a little time and monitor him a few more hours and if he doesn't regress, we're planning on moving him into a regular room later today to free up this bed for someone who needs it more."

"So, did he ask about what happened? What does he know?"

"Well, he knows he was shot. I did a quick exam and then we discussed his injuries, prognosis, and course of treatment, but I kept it very basic and medical related. You'll have to decide what else to tell him."

"I'm pretty sure what I have to tell him will make him upset. Physically… can he take it? Will it cause any harm?"

"I'd try to avoid any undue stress if possible. His heart rate is already elevated from fighting off the fever. That needs to go down, not up."

"Got it."

"He's progressing nicely," the doctor assured his patient's concerned friends again. "Just take it slow. He may be able to go home in a week or so. Go on in. He's waiting."

"Thanks, Doc," Danny spoke as Dr. Patterson was already turning and walking away from the pair.

"So, Chin, you wait out here so I can announce the surprise that I promised him. Okay?"

Chin smiled and nodded, understanding Danny needed a few minutes alone with Steve. "I'm here if you need me."

Danny opened the door slowly as if the door would be a shield to protect him from any thrown object, or more likely, words. "You awake?" he teased.

"Thank God. It's about time, Danny. Yeah, I'm awake. Where'd you go?" Steve growled out slowly as he rolled his eyes, clearly annoyed.

"Will you relax already? You're going to pop a blood vessel or something. These machines will start singing and half the nursing staff will converge in here."

"All right, all right." Steve looked tired. His complexion was pale, which contrasted with the darkening under his sunken eyes.

"As I was about to say before I left, you look horrible."

"Thanks. You don't look too great yourself," Steve mumbled.

Danny started rubbing the two-day old hair growth on his face. "What? You don't like the new look? It's what the girls are going for nowadays."

"You look silly. What happened to your hand?" Steve saw the bruising and scabbed over cuts on the displayed hand for the first time and his thoughts were diverted.

Danny held the back of his hand up at arms-length making a show of turning it to and fro to inspect as if discovering the injuries for the first time. "Uh, things got a little crazy in my ukulele class. Let's talk about you. You're the one in the hospital."

"Yeah, about that… the doctor said I took a couple of rounds? What happened?"

"You know, before we get to all that, I've got a surprise for you. Remember?" Danny deflected.

"Danny, come on…"

Danny opened the door and gestured to someone out in the hall. As he did, Steve took note of the guard stationed outside. Chin stepped in with a huge smile on his face. "Hey, Steve."

"Chin Ho… " Steve adjusted how he was laying as if he were going to sit up but grunted in pain and quickly settled back down into the comfort of the pillows behind him.

"Don't try to move, you idiot." Danny jumped in and found the controller to the bed. "You'll tear something or break something. Let's try this." Danny raised the head of the bed slightly until Steve's resulting grimace got equally painful to look at.

"Yeah, that's good. Thanks. Chin, how're you doing, man? It's good to see you."

"Good to see you, too." Chin clamped both hands around Steve's. "You had us worried."

"Chin, don't get me wrong, 'm glad to see you and all, but why're you here?"

Chin glanced at Danny then looked back to Steve. "Like I said, you had us worried. I heard things were a little iffy at first. Danny called and here I am."

"I think you came all this way for nothin' _and_ I think my partner, here, is avoiding tellin' me what's goin' on."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Danny claimed innocently.

"Daniel?…"

"Steven?…"

"Can you just start at the beginning? What happened? How'd I get shot?"

"Well, okay. What do you remember?"

"A case? I don't know. I don't remember."

"You really don't remember? No, it wasn't a case and believe it or not you weren't even doing anything stupid, well, unless you consider fishing stupid and I may have an argument in support of that."

"Okay." Steve rolled his eyes and spoke dismissively to stop the perceived path in its tracks.

"You had just finished fishing with Lou, out at Waialua."

Steve narrowed his eyes in thought with the helpful information and he began to remember. "We were walking back to the car. I was braggin' to Lou. Lou?" Steve's eyes now widened. "Lou? What about Lou? Is he okay?"

"Take it easy. The big guy's fine. You asked me, so let me finish. Will 'ya?" Steve seemed to settle down, patiently waiting on Danny. "A sniper hit you… twice, in the gut, barely missing _my_ liver, by the way…"

"Danny," Steve forced out, exasperated.

"…then tagged Lou," Danny continued.

"You said he was okay," Steve became captious quickly.

"He is. Calm down already. He got hit in the leg. Spent a night in the hospital. Now he's home, resting comfortably."

"A night? How long's it been?"

"It happened in the morning, the day before yesterday. It's been a little over forty-eight hours now."

"Shit." Steve couldn't believe he'd been out of it that long. "Two days? Tell me you got the guy. … Danny? What was that look? … Chin? What are you two not telling me?" He had seen the knowing look shared between his visitors. "Will someone tell me what the hell…" Steve's growing agitation peaked and he cried out in pain after trying to move as though he was his healthy, normal self.

"Now see what you did? Stop that," Danny chastised.

"Danny, maybe we should. I mean, he deserves to know," Chin implored, clearly allowing Steve to hear his appeal. "This is obviously not helping to keep him calm and stress-free."

Danny stared at Chin for several seconds as he considered his words. "All right! But, I swear, if you go ballistic on me, I'm getting the doctor to drug your ass right back to sleep. You got it?"

"Tell me, Danny."

"Uhn, uhn. Not until you promise you're going to remain Cool Hand Luke."

Unwilling to promise anything of the kind, Steve knitted his brow and gave Danny a death stare. The attempt was fruitless on his stubborn partner, so he gave up on Danny and looked to Chin. "Chin, what's going on?"

"Are you sure you feel up to this?"

"Chin!"

"All right," Chin conceded.

Danny puffed out his mouth and blew out a long accepting breath. He stepped behind a chair, making his way over to the window. He rested one elbow on the ledge, readying himself to watch the show. Chin looked over at him and hesitated. Danny laid out his hand in surrender. "By all means, go ahead."

Chin moved closer to Steve's bedside. "I did come to see you. We were very worried about you. It didn't look good that first day. Kono is actually on her way, too."

"Kono? I… I don't get it."

"Yes, Steve. See, you're right. There is more, as you've guessed. The shooter is still at large, but he has been identified. Lou saw him and was able to identify him and we have gotten DNA evidence and other foolproof confirmation. We know, with certainty, _exactly_ who it was that shot you and Lou."

"Lou knows him? So, it's someone we've tangled with in the past. Someone out for payback? Who was it, Chin?"

"This is the part that is hard to believe."

"Okay? Chin, please." Steve was eager to hear the rest.

"Gabriel. Gabriel Waincroft. … He's alive."

Steve's head shook subtly as he one side of his mouth turned up in an almost imperceptible grin. "Chin, come on. Seriously? Who was it?"

Chin wished with his entire being that he was messing around. He didn't want it to be true either. However, his unfaltering, expressionless face revealed its truth.

Steve's mouth fell open and stared several seconds at Chin. He looked to Danny and then back to the teller of the story. "That can't be. Chin, that's impossible. He died… in surgery… he died," Steve repeated. He heard Danny smack his lips and turned to his partner who had decided to come back closer to join the conversation.

"No, no," Danny chaffed as his finger wagged in the air. "Chin's right. He most certainly is alive and breathing and he's back to wreak havoc."

"I just… I just don't understand."

"Somehow, and we haven't figured that one out yet, but somehow, he survived the gunshot and the surgery. We were given bad information."

Steve let the revelation sink in for several seconds. "Okay, so assuming you're right, what's his angle? Revenge? That's why there's a guard posted outside. Isn't it?"

"Oh, you noticed that," Danny nonchalantly stated as he looked toward a smug Chin. "Yes and no. Even though we think he tried, and didn't succeed in killing you…"

"Obviously," Steve slid in.

"… we also think he purposefully _didn't_ try to kill Lou that day. He also had another chance at you, here in the hospital, but didn't take it. So, we don't think it's solely to take out Five-0."

"So, what's he want?"

Danny's eyes once again flicked to Chin. "We uh, we think, well we're pretty sure…"

Chin took over, "It's me. He has made it clear that he wants to talk to me."

"What?" Steve emphasized the 't' as he tried to process the information.

"Guess he thought it would take something dramatic to get me back on the island, and he was right. Here I am."

"You've been in contact with him?"

Danny filled in some gaps. "He left us a note and…" Danny wrinkled his nose as he prepared for the next part of what he was about to say. "…he approached Tani, without her knowing who he was, and gave her, us," he corrected, "a phone number. I talked to him, not long enough to trace, and he made it clear that he wanted Chin here."

Steve started vigorously shaking his head, headache be damned. He needed to clear away the confusion. "Let me get this straight. You talked to him?" This whole thing seemed unbelievable. "You're _sure?_ It was him?"

"Yeah, babe. It was him. Like I said, we've got fingerprints, DNA, eyewitnesses, heck, we got him on the hospital's security video. It's him."

Steve remembered back to the day they believed was Gabriel's last on earth. He had meant it when he told Chin he had thought it was best that Gabriel hadn't made it. If the report of his death had been true, or if they had allowed the Yakuza army get to him, or if one of their own bullets had found its target on one of the many attempts years ago, they would not be in this mess now. Steve addressed Chin, "What does he want with you? Any idea?"

"We're not sure. He hasn't reared his head since Danny's call. I just got here this morning. We _are_ working on a hypothesis though. Besides the note and the call, he left another token."

"Yeah, here in your room," Danny added as he pulled the photograph from his pocket and reached it to Steve.

Steve's face grew grim as he stared at the photo. "Son of a bitch. He wants Sara."

* * *

_~to be continued~_

\,,,/BronsonL


	9. Chapter 9

"He wants Sara back," Steve reaffirmed his conclusion.

Chin nodded. "That's what we're thinking."

"Where is she?"

"She's back in San Francisco with Abby. They didn't come with me for that reason. They've also got added security. They should be fine until we get him."

"And this is also why Kono's coming." Steve began putting the pieces together.

"Yes," Chin confirmed. "That's a big part of it. She, of course, wanted to make sure you're okay, too, but she wanted to help in the search."

"Speaking of which, Kono and Adam should be here shortly," Danny said. "I'm gonna grab Chin and head to the office so we can get to work. You need your rest anyway and…"

"Wait a minute, wait a minute," Steve seemed a little put off. "You say you spoke with Gabriel day one, right?"

Danny nodded.

"It's been two days and you've heard nothing?"

"My guess," Danny surmised, "is that he knows that Chin hasn't been here. And if he knows that, he probably knows he's here now. I'll bet a week's salary that he's got eyes on us, either his own or some hired scumbag."

"You're expecting a call," Steve realized and spoke his conclusion aloud.

"Yeah, kinda."

Chin added, "We don't want to take the chance that he calls and we're not ready."

"If he does, I want to be notified right away," Steve demanded.

"So you can strap on a vest and join us?" Danny quipped. "Don't think so, Superman. You know you're still in intensive care, don't you?"

"Not for long… according to the doc."

"Well you'll go from one hospital room to another. Get it? Hospital room. Where you can heal. Where you can recover from being shot, you idiot… _twice_. You almost died. No, we'll let you know when we know something, but let us handle it. We got this. Okay? You stay here and be a good boy and do what the pretty nurses say and we'll be in touch. Let's go, Chin."

"Danny. Danny!" Steve yelled out in vain. "And do something about that rats' nest on your face, would ya?" Steve's voice slowed to a mumble.

Chin shrugged at Steve. Danny had already left the room. "Sorry, Steve. We do need to get on this. We'll be back."

"Get him to take care of himself."

Chin nodded. "Take it easy."

Feeling somewhat defeated, Steve sank back onto the mattress with thoughts about Gabriel and his Five-0 family. Gabriel had thrown down the gauntlet and now he was trying to manipulate his family for his personal gain once again. He had managed to get Chin, and soon Kono, to return to Hawaii. He had shot and injured Lou as part of his game. He had used Tani's naiveté against her and used her for his ulterior motives.

Though Danny tried to conceal it, Steve knew he was a mess and was bearing the burden of the world on his shoulders. The self-inflicted blame, concern, and anger were floating just below the surface, unnoticeable to most people, but evident to Steve who had become attuned to the signs in his partner over the years. He knew the combination of these stress factors could make Danny vulnerable.

Steve fought his instinctive yearning to help his family as he knew he physically could not be there for them. For a while, apprehension and restlessness persisted, but the continuous flow of meds began to win out and he drifted off to sleep.

~~~~~H50~~~~~

Chin caught up to Danny in the hall. "Danny, wait up."

"You gonna ride with me or take your rental?"

"I know you want to get to the office and work on this, but I think it would be best if you go home for a while and do a little recuperating yourself. How long has it been since you've slept?"

"I've slept."

"Sitting up in a hospital chair doesn't count. Go home. Get something to eat, take a shower… and shaaave," he drew out with a smile. "Then get some sleep, real sleep. I need to unpack and get settled anyway."

"You're not going to a hotel. No, man, you'll stay with me. Eric's got his own place now. I don't think you'll want to sleep in a pink girlie room or in a race car bed, but I've got a couch, better yet, you can have my bed and I'll take the couch. I fall asleep there a lot anyway while watching TV. It's very comfy."

"Oh, no, that's not what I meant. Since Adam's moved out, Kono's going to stay at her house and she's invited me to stay with her. It'll be a good chance to catch up. I appreciate it, though. I do, but we're good. Let's say we meet at HQ in the morning. It'll be just like old times."

"All right. All right. Have it your way, but you know you're always welcome. Kono, too."

"Yes, we know. So, does that mean you agree to get some rest and start fresh in the morning?"

Danny huffed loudly. "I guess," he replied reluctantly. "Kinda feels like I don't have a choice."

"One other thing," Chin added, "I think you should give me the phone to keep on me, just in case."

Danny pulled Tani's phone, in the white case, from his pocket and stared at it, hesitant to give up what seemed to be the only chance of finding Gabriel. "You're right. You should have it. I just want to be there when he reaches out."

"I know, but we don't know when that will be. It could be days, but if he does try to contact us, I want to be the one to answer."

"Yep." Danny handed the phone to Chin. "Just…"

"I know. I will let you know the instant it happens."

"I know you will. Thanks, Chin. We gotta get him."

"We will. I promise." Chin laid his hand on Danny's arm in affirmation.

~~~~~H50~~~~~

Kono stood patiently waiting for her luggage to appear on the baggage carousel. She sensed a reason to turn toward the doors leading in from the parking area. Her instincts were correct. Adam had just walked in and spotted her as well. She redirected her attention back to the belt as she saw and picked up her bag.

"Here. Let me." Adam had approached and was reaching for the handle of her bag.

"It's okay. I can get it."

"Please."

"Okay," Kono conceded, dropping her hold and waving her hand over the bag in offering.

"It's good to see you," Adam said honestly.

"You, too."

With the perceived permission, Adam leaned in for a hug and was glad that Kono reciprocated. Familiarity and reminiscence prompted a long embrace, but when Kono recalled the truth of their current situation, she withdrew. They shared a moment just looking at each other. Then Adam broke the awkward silence between them, "It's good to see you."

"You already said that."

Adam let out a small embarrassed laugh. "Yeah, um, how was your flight?"

"It was fine."

"You look good."

"Thanks. So, how are Steve and Lou?" Kono quickly changed the subject.

They began walking toward the exit, Adam rolling Kono's luggage beside him. "Steve's improving, faster than expected, so it looks like he's going to beat this."

"Good. That's good," Kono breathed out in relief. "That's our Steve."

"However, he is still in the ICU and hasn't fully awakened, but the doctor said it should be soon. Lou's doing great, though. He went home yesterday. He's been a little antsy to get back to work on this whole thing."

"Yeah, so, where are we at on that? Any more contact with Gabriel?"

"Not yet and right now the trail is cold. Not for lack of trying though. Danny's been running himself ragged between staying at the hospital and working on this."

"Uh, yeah, he would. So, he's taking it hard," she concluded.

Adam opened the trunk. "Um, hm. Having you and Chin back, though, will help. Sorry this is taking you away from…"

"Adam…"

"No, Kono," Adam spoke almost at the same time. "It's okay, I'm okay. I understand. You're doing what you have to do. I'm proud of you. Really."

"I just want to make sure…"

"We've been through this. It's good. We're good. We should get going."

Kono nodded. "'kay. Where to?"

"Thought I'd take you home. I mean, your house… to get settled."

"I'd like to go see Steve first, if that's okay."

"Sure, sure, no problem." Before they got in the car, Adam's phone began to buzz. "Hey, look who it is… Lou," Adam announced to Kono before answering. "Hi Lou, how's… it… going?" A person in a heather gray hoodie walking between cars a few rows over in the parking garage had caught Adam's attention. The person had peered back in their direction twice. "Yeah, yeah, I'm… here. That's… Hold it!" Adam let the phone drop onto the trunk of the car and reached for the gun that was not at his side. "Damn it," he breathed out as he remembered he didn't take his firearm into the airport since he was not there in an official capacity. He took off after the suspicious onlooker.

Kono saw the reaction and was on his heels. Adam was able to quickly overtake his target, laying his hands on the man's shoulders and whipping him around. "Gabriel!"

"What the hell, dude?!"

At seeing the man's face up close, he dropped his hands and stepped back. "You're not…"

"Jeez, man, what's wrong with you?"

"I'm, I'm sorry. I thought you were someone else."

Kono pulled up just in time to see the interaction. "Hey, everything okay?"

"Why don't you ask your boyfriend, here? You need to put him on a leash."

Kono stepped in front of Adam, her ire rising at the man's disrespect. "He apologized. It was just a misunderstanding. By the way, why were you looking at us?"

The man seemed put off by the questioning and just wanted to get on his way, but he felt the fastest way to accomplish that would be to answer the questions and maybe they'd leave him be. "I wasn't. I was just looking for the rentals. Must have gone in the wrong direction."

"And the hoodie? What's that about? You're in Hawaii," Kono didn't relent.

"What's with the twenty questions? I always wear 'em when I fly… to give me a bit more privacy, in case I want to sleep or just not be bothered, and those planes can get cold."

"Bet you have a lot of friends, brah," Kono added sarcastically.

"What?"

"Nothing. Just move on. Welcome to Hawaii. Aloha," Kono piled on.

"Hey, again I'm sorry," Adam called out to the retreating man.

"Lunatics." Adam heard the man mumble under his breath as he shook his head while continuing his search for his car.

Kono turned to face Adam. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I just thought…"

"You thought he was Gabriel."

"He looked like him."

"Yes, he did, but you can't let him get to you like this. I mean, it's good to be vigilant while he's out there on the loose, but being paranoid is something else."

"So, now I'm paranoid. Paranoid people are irrational. Do you think I'm irrational?"

"No, of course not. Sorry. I guess I should have chosen my words better. Say, I got to see some of your new Five-0 moves," Kono smiled with an attempt to be more lighthearted. "How are you liking your new gig, anyway?"

"It's good. It's better than good. Everyone has accepted me and I feel I've found a place where I can make a difference."

Kono smiled. "I know. I get it. That's exactly how I felt in the beginning," she lamented wistfully, briefly harkening back to her latest, self-assigned mission. "I'm glad, Adam. Really."

As they started their trek back to the car, they heard sirens in the distance. Then, they saw a couple of uniformed security officers from the airport running in their direction with their guns at the ready. They both stopped and looked at each other in realization. "Lou," they said in unison. The pair threw up their hands to pacify the officers.

"It's okay. We're, well, _I'm_ with Five-0." Adam displayed his badge. "Everything's fine. I guess you heard from one of our team members."

Kono jumped in, "It was a big misunderstanding."

Honolulu police department cruisers were now converging on the scene as well. As they arrived, the newcomers got to witness the security officers backing down and securing their firearms and realized the situation was under control.

Kono picked the abandoned phone up off the car and saw that it was still connected to Lou. "You sure know how to welcome a girl back."

"Kono? Girl, is that you?" She heard the familiar, robust voice on the other end.

"Hi, Lou. Yeah, it's me. I guess we've got some explaining to do."

"Is everything okay? It sounded like Adam saw Gabriel."

"He thought he did, but it wasn't him… _this_ time at least."

"Well, I wouldn't put it past the son of a bitch. Glad to hear everything is okay."

"The reason I was calling Adam to begin with was I heard from Danny. He's been with Chin at the hospital. They are going to call it a day and go home to get a good night's rest. He wants everyone to meet up at the Palace first thing in the morning. Will you pass that on to Mr. Noshimuri for me?"

"Sure thing, Lou. Are you going to be able to be there?"

"A little soreness and stiffness won't be able to keep me away. Yes, I'll be there."

"Great. I look forward to seeing you. I've missed you, Lou."

"I missed you, too, sweetheart. I'll call off the cavalry. You two be careful and I'll see you tomorrow."

~~~~~H50~~~~~

Adam parked on the street in front of the house they once shared. A car they didn't recognize was in the driveway and they both assumed it was Chin's rental. Kono had verified that he still had the house key she had given him years ago when they were both living on the island. It was now dark outside, but the lights that glowed through the sheer curtains were welcoming to the weary traveler. It had been a long day and Kono was eager to get inside and rest.

"Sorry you didn't get to visit with Steve," Adam said.

"It's okay. He looked like he was resting peacefully. That's what he needs right now. I'm just glad he's able to sleep and let his body continue to heal. I'll get my chance. Thanks for taking me, though."

"Sure. Of course."

Adam removed Kono's luggage from the trunk of his car and she grabbed it and immediately started walking toward the house.

"I wonder if Chin's still up or if he just left the lights on for us," she said, innocently including Adam with the normalcy of the moment.

She had almost gotten to the door when she turned, expecting to see Adam right behind her. He was not there. She saw him leaning against the car with his arms folded across his body. Even in the darkness, the street lights and moonlight cooperated so she could see a hint of a wistful smile on his face.

Ever since she and Adam had been together, he had always been there with her, going into _their_ home together… or carrying her in his lap while he was in a wheelchair, she recalled, another grim reminder of Gabriel and the reason she was here. She rebuked herself for forgetting things were not as they used to be. Adam was not coming into this home with her anymore.

She rolled her eyes, angry at herself for the flub. She left her suitcase and walked back toward Adam, lifting her hands in apology before they ended up on her hips. "Adam, I… "

"It's fine," he half-laughed. Now the smile was apparent.

"Would you, would you like to come in? Just for a minute?"

Adam's smile faded. However, it wasn't from disappointment, but from a place of staid reflection. Now, it was his turn to fall back into a habit. However, unlike Kono, he recognized the audacity before acting but succumbed anyway. He carefully wrapped both hands under Kono's hair and around the back of her neck and leaned in and lightly kissed her forehead, lingering just a second longer than accepted decorum for friends. A comforting familiarity prickled her senses and allowed the moment.

"Good night, Kono." She had gotten her answer. He was not coming in with her, but at the same time, had been left with many other questions. "I'll see you in the morning."

"Good night, Adam," her tired self relented for now. She would have to deal with these fresh misgivings another time.

Adam got back into the car and waited until she safely entered her home. He had to admit to himself, it was good to have her back on the island, even if it had to be a detached, platonic relationship.

* * *

_~to be continued~_

\,,,/BronsonL


	10. Chapter 10

Chin had a pot of coffee on when Kono made it in. It had been weeks since he had seen her and even though he was exhausted, he wanted to be awake to greet her when she got home. They spent several hours catching up. The initial heaviness stemming from Steve's original prognosis had dissipated with the good news that he was expected to come through okay. Kono was up for talking and found it cathartic. She smiled broadly, sincerely happy for Chin, when he told her how content he was in San Francisco with his new family. Kono noticed how his face brightened every time he mentioned Abby's name. His pride was on full display as he, of course, had to work in how Sara had just won her school's geography bee in her grade level.

The conversation wound its way to cover his fledgling task force. Abby had been such a help to him in acclimating to the new locale, and even though he had gone through a few challenges in getting some of the others to accept him, he felt he had finally gained their respect and trust and had a solid team in place. Kono laughed when he told her about a team member from Memphis who, except for his dark hair and very southern accent, reminded him so much of Danny with his sarcastic quips and the way he couldn't talk unless his hands were moving. All in all, he felt they were making inroads into diminishing crime in their area of California.

Kono did not go into as much detail about her work, but she had experienced some highs and some lows in her quest to make a difference in breaking down the human trafficking business. Some large players had been indicted and would be out of commission for years. Her satisfaction in her work was evident, but Chin could also sense a forlorn subtlety hidden just below the surface that he couldn't quite put his finger on. After spending most of their time discussing the positive aspects of their current lives and avoiding the inevitable topic, they finally delved into the looming showdown with Gabriel. They winded down close to midnight and both decided they should try to get some sleep before going into work the next day.

Even as weary as he was, Chin found it difficult to fall asleep. His restless thoughts had him continuously moving, flipping, and searching for that magic spot where he could finally get rest. He had finally drifted off, but had not been asleep long, when he got the call. The sound of the buzzing caused him to jolt upright in the bed. The phone that had been confiscated from Tani was lighting up with 'John', the same name that had been entered when they met. Chin jumped up and grabbed the phone accepting the incoming call as he made a beeline for the back patio.

"Gabriel?" He slid the back door closed.

"Hello, Chin. Been a long time."

"Not long enough."

"So, your cousin decided to come back too, huh? I figured you'd be staying at her house, but didn't really expect two for one."

Chin's eyes darted around the outside surroundings. Nothing seemed out of order in the dim moonlight, but somehow, Gabriel knew where he was and that Kono was there too.

"Right now, you're talking to me. Leave her out of this."

Gabriel continued, "You're right. I'm not interested in her. It's you I've been wanting to talk to, but before we go any further, I need you to do something for me. Go outside and look under the picnic table."

"What?"

"Go on. I've got something there for you."

Gabriel must not have eyes on him after all, since he didn't know that Chin was already outside seeking privacy to keep from disturbing Kono. It was a short walk over to the table. The thought that there could be something like an explosive device waiting for him crossed his mind. He felt like he had to take the chance, though, to see this through.

When he reached the table, he squatted down, holding the top for stability. Instead of using the flashlight feature, he opted for the glow of the phone to light the area under the table. He didn't see anything on the ground but it didn't take him long to find something else. On the end that he happened to be at, he found a Ziploc bag duct-taped to the underside of the table. He carefully pulled the bag out and stood, shining the limited light onto its contents. It contained another phone.

"I've got it. What's this for? What kind of game are you playing?"

At that moment, the call dropped and the phone in the bag lit up. Chin opened the bag and removed this new device. He took a moment to glance back at the house which was dark and quiet and then he scanned the area around him. He laid Tani's phone on the table and put his hand on his hip as he calmly exhaled to compose himself, then answered.

"Like I said, what kind of game is this?"

"I don't know what you're talking about. I've just got to watch out for myself. I know what you all can do with your technology nowadays. I wanted you to have one that only you and I know about. You may want to wait to give pretty little thing her phone back so no one questions."

"What makes you think I'll keep it to myself?"

"Because I'm asking politely… well, that _and_ because if you don't, one of your buddies could be in for a little trouble."

"So, you're making threats now. What makes you think you could get to any of us?"

"I already did. Two of you, actually."

"And now, we're all on to you _and_ there's no way you're getting past the security at the hospital."

"Is there not?"

"Would you just stop speaking in riddles, Gabriel? You wanted to talk to me. What do you want?"

"You're vulnerable, all of you. You'll see. Just keep our interactions to yourself and everything should be fine. I want to set up a time to get together, one on one. Keep this phone handy. I'll be in touch."

Chin's connection to Gabriel was gone in an instant. While still holding the gifted phone, he put his hand on his hip, mirroring the other arm. He wasn't in a hurry to go back in. The moonlit darkness and warm nighttime breeze were restorative after a long day and what was becoming a long night. His wandering thoughts were put to an end when he felt the phone once again demand his attention. This time it was not a call. He had received a text. The message was not written, but it was clear nonetheless. A series of pictures had been sent, each showing a member of Five-0, each seemingly unaware they were being photographed.

The first was Adam and most likely Junior, judging from the description of the young SEAL he had heard of, eating a meal at Kamekona's shrimp truck. The next was Renee helping Lou out of the Suburban, onto crutches, in the driveway of their home. He figured the next was Tani, stepping off her Vespa and having words with a young man that resembled her, probably the younger brother he had heard about. Jerry was walking from his parked van toward the Palace.

The last in the series was Danny standing on the steps of Rachel's house and Rachel could be seen in the doorway with Charlie leaning against her, his arm wrapped around her waist. The shot was close enough that Chin could see Danny wasn't yet sporting the two-day old stubble but did have his hand wrapped. He knew the photo must have been taken in the last forty-eight hours.

A separate text came through in the next minute showing Kono and Adam in what appeared to be a deep conversation standing outside her house. He knew this was just from a few hours ago.

"Damn it!" Chin was angry that Gabriel, or someone close to him in his organization, had been so close and he never knew it. He walked around to the front of the house and looked down the street in both directions, wondering if anyone had eyes on him right at that moment. He finally decided to go inside when he got the last text as he was about to reach for the door.

Unlike the others, the last photo was captioned with a message. || _I forgot one_. || This one was taken from inside of Steve's hospital room, with a clear picture of Steve sleeping.

~~~~H50~~~~~

"Hey, are you okay, cuz? You were pretty quiet the whole way here." Kono unbuckled her seatbelt and waited for an answer before getting out of the car.

"I'm fine. Just a little tired, I guess. I'm not used to being up so late like last night." He displayed his trademark endearing smile, all the while hoping that his answer would be enough.

"Are we late?" Chin asked as they entered the bullpen area.

A cleanshaven Danny was the first to cross the room and meet Kono before she could get all the way in. Kono's smile mirrored his as he spread out his arms for a hug. "Hey, beautiful."

"Hey, yourself."

"Welcome back," he softly spoke through her hair before turning loose.

"Thanks. It's good to see you, Danny."

"You're looking better," Chin gibed at Danny as he passed by the pair to get to the others. Danny rolled his eyes for Kono's benefit as she giggled at the implication.

Adam hung back as the necessary reunions and introductions took place. He grinned as he witnessed how the Five-0 veterans had opposite effects on the two who had filled their shoes. Junior reverted back into what was ironically more comfortable for him in awkward social situations, his straight-laced formal self, complete with the 'sirs' and 'ma'ams'. Tani actually slipped into an even more relaxed, ebullient version of herself, laughing and acting as though she had known the pair for years.

Lou had gotten up, with the aid of his crutches, to get his hugs, but eased back onto his stool when the levity settled so the group could get back to business. "Well, before you came in," he began, "Jerry was just letting us know about the latest."

Jerry summarized what he had covered in the last few minutes then Danny took over. "Lou and Jerry are going to help us coordinate the big picture from here. Junior and Tani are going to head over to the hospital's security office to see if they've finished going through their videos. I thought the rest of us would split up, but you guys aren't technically Five-0 anymore, even though you always will be in my heart," Danny patronized. "You won't be able to act in an official capacity unless you're with a team member. It may be best if each of you stay with one of us."

"How 'bout it, Kono? Like old times?" Adam spoke up.

Kono smiled back. "Sure."

Danny felt a little relieved that he didn't have to make that call. "Okay, Chin. It's you and me." There was no response, so he turned toward his new, temporary partner. "Chin? Hey, Chin, you with us, buddy?"

"Um, yeah. Sorry."

"We were just picking teams. Sorry, man, you got chosen last. You ended up with me."

"Yeah, no problem."

"Adam and Kono, I need you to check out Kame's tip. Chin and I will interview the lifer at Halawa who claims he's got info."

Everyone nodded their agreement with the plan.

"Danny, have you heard anything from Steve?" Kono asked.

"Stopped by this morning. He's out of ICU and is in his full-on complaining phase."

"That's good… I guess," Kono reasoned.

"That's absolutely good," Lou added. "Means he's getting back to normal."

"He's thinking he's gonna be able to blow the joint in a day or two. The nurses are wishing he was right," Danny continued.

"Does he still have a guard posted at his new room?" Chin asked nonchalantly, having a two-sided objective.

"He does and he _will_ 'til he's out or we have Waincroft in custody," Danny pledged, none the wiser to Chin's intent.

"Good," Chin concurred.

"Let's go, Juns." Tani was first to get going.

"Yes, ma'am." Junior raised his eyebrows at the others indicating he better obey or face the consequences.

"You ready, Chin?" Danny coaxed.

"Yeah." Before going, though, he turned to Adam. "Make sure to watch out for her."

Kono wrinkled her brow in confusion. The statement was peculiar for her cousin. They had been in these situations, countless times before, without such an appeal.

Adam turned from Chin to Kono. "Always."

If she was surprised by Chin's odd statement, she was even more taken aback by Adam's reply. It felt a little too 'comfortable'

Adam didn't know how he felt about the way she slightly dropped her jaw and became speechless, but he couldn't call it disappointment.

Chin doubted his judgment after observing the awkward encounter that had resulted from his instigation. He chastised himself for not keeping his mouth shut.

"That was weird," Kono said after Chin and Danny left.

"Give him some slack. This whole thing is weighing hard on him."

"Yeah, I guess. I hope that's all it is."

* * *

_~to be continued~_

\,,,/BronsonL


	11. Chapter 11

Wrapping his fingers around the edge of the table in front of him, Danny leaned forward, putting his weight on the heels of his hands. An insincere smile spread across his face as he stared at Latimer Giovanni. He let go of his grip so he could reproachfully shake his finger at the felon handcuffed to the table in front of him. "No, no, no, no, you must have misunderstood." He turned away from the Halawa prisoner with his finger still in the air. Chin was leaning against the wall with his arms folded across his body. "We are not here for your entertainment."

"You're wrong. I am _thoroughly_ entertained watching two cops squirm. Gets pretty boring inside. This kicks things up a notch."

"Look, you said you had information about Gabriel Waincroft. Are we just wasting our time here or what?"

"What about what you promised me? Huh? Don't you have something like in writing or something?"

Chin pushed himself off the wall when he thought he saw smoke coming out of Danny's ears. He felt he needed to run interference so he swept his arm in front of Danny and stepped between him and the cocky prisoner seated before them.

"Go ahead." Danny held out his hand in acquiescence. "You try."

"Your little hot-headed buddy's sending in the big guns now?" Giovanni jabbed.

"Chin… I swear," Danny warned after pausing from his pacing in the small room.

Chin turned and locked his widened eyes with Danny, nonverbally asking for patience while he had a go at the guy. He turned his attention back to the less than cooperative inmate and spoke calmly and quietly, " _Detective Williams_ ," he exaggerated the respected title, "and I realize that you don't have any time constraints, but _we_ , on the other hand, do. Now, I believe you were told that if you cooperate with this investigation, arrangements can be made to get you back to a facility in… Washington was it? Is that where you have family? And… that should be sufficiently far enough from anyone who may know you snitched. Is that right, Gio?"

The reminder seemed to work. Gio was listening intently. He dropped his head but had nothing to say in reply, so Chin continued, "We need you to help us first and I will personally accompany you and the Marshal to Walla Walla before I head home to California."

Chin didn't see Danny turn his mouth down in a whatta-you-know expression. _Home_? Danny understood the transformative power a family can have on the geographic location of _home_. The deflective thought succeeded in quelling his exasperation. He calmly stepped up beside Chin, "Where can we find Waincroft? Give us some names of those in his organization. Who is his main lieutenant?"

The last question seemed to get his attention. He lifted his gaze to Chin first then to Danny. "Lieu… his lieutenant? You… you think…?" He spit the words out between snickers and ended with an unrestrained laugh. Danny and Chin looked at each other in confusion. When Gio finally calmed down, he manipulated the handcuffs to beckon the two to come closer with one of his fingers. Neither man budged. They just waited him out.

"You got it all wrong. Gabriel ain't got no lieutenant." He visibly restrained himself from laughing again. "He _is_ the lieutenant."

Silence filled the room.

Gio continued, "There's an army, all right, but he ain't the head of it."

Danny couldn't hold back any longer, "What the hell are you talking about?"

"When he got popped, he had nothin'. He'd lost it all. He'd be dead right now if he hadn't got scooped up and set up in a primo position. Some of us held it against his ass, new guy steppin' in on the action, but his rep was all it took. Boss was dead set on it."

"All right. Okay. Let's back the cart up," Danny was incredulous. "What are you saying? There's someone behind all this? Someone that is _not_ Gabriel Waincroft?"

"Look, I'm working on limited info here. I don't know what all you're talking about… what you say he did. I just know how he made it back… and it wasn't on his own. He had help. It took a lot of money and a lot of influence to kill him off to the likes of you and then resurrect him all over again and that's exactly what he got."

Chin's mind was reeling with the implications. Everything up until now had been personal. The note, the photo, the phone call had all been personal. He didn't know how to process this bit of information.

Danny began to pace again, back and forth in front of the table. Gio's head followed him as if he were watching a tennis match. At one point, Danny paused and stared at the wall before once again resuming his cathartic motion.

Gio got impatient. "Are we done? You're making me dizzy. When do I get off this God forsaken island?"

Something in his statements made Danny stop in his tracks. Once again, he leaned on the table, coming nose to nose with the man before him. "Who?"

"What?"

"Who?! Who is it?!" Danny raised his voice, exasperated with the dunce seated before him.

"The boss?"

"No, the number one NBA pick. Yes! 'The boss'! Who is he?"

"I don't know."

"You don't… This is fantastic. Chin, can you believe this?" He turned to see Chin wasn't even engaged in the interrogation. His full attention was on his phone. Not the one in the white case; it wasn't Tani's. Nevertheless, Danny lingered a few seconds on the implication. He didn't try to draw him back in. He simply rolled his eyes to something that caught his attention up on the ceiling, then turned back to Gio and continued.

"Okay. One more time, and I'll make it real clear for you, who… is… the man… in charge?"

"Like I said, I don't know. He was big enough to keep it a secret. No one knows, except those that are closest to him. Your boy Waincroft would know. Ask him?"

"They broke the stupid mold when they made you, didn't they? That's what we're trying to accomplish here. So, assuming you 'don't know'," Danny did air quotes, "who the boss man is, tell us where we can find Waincroft."

"I've been in inside for months now. There's no way they would still be working out of the same place."

"Well now we're finally getting around to something. Let us worry about that. Just give us a location and we'll take it from here."

* * *

_~to be continued~_

**A/N:** Teaser chapter. Split one in two. I'll try to post more tomorrow. Thanks for reading!

\,,,/BronsonL


	12. Chapter 12

* * *

"That was Junior," Danny let Chin know after disconnecting the call. "Turns out the hospital cam's got Gabriel, or at least they think it's him, getting in a silver Beamer. He _conveniently_ kept his face turned away from the cameras."

"Hmm, okay, different vehicle," Chin mumbled without taking his gaze off the passing scenery outside the car. "Did they get a plate?"

"Hey, man, you okay? You've been a little preoccupied here lately." Taking his attention off the road at safe, opportune intervals, Danny glanced over at his distracted passenger and the phone he held protectively in his lap, unconsciously swiping his thumb back and forth over the screen. "I, uh, saw you checking your phone in there. Everything all right?"

The comment kicked Chin out of his pensive mood and he sat up straighter and now looked toward Danny. "Yeah, it was Abby. She was just asking for an update."

Danny's honed detection intuition bristled. The itch had started back at the headquarters that morning as a slight tickle. Now, he was having to suppress the strong irritation. "Oh, okay… too bad we don't have much to give her."

"Yeah, too bad," Chin agreed. "So, what else did Junior have to say?"

"Kamekona doesn't have anything hard and fast but he does have some oddities to tell us about. We're heading there now to meet the others at the shrimp truck. Plus, we haven't eaten. Maybe we can get a bite."

"Mmm, sounds good. I've missed the big guy's cooking."

~~~~~H50~~~~~

Unlike Chin, Danny didn't sit down at the picnic table with the others when they arrived. Instead, he stood behind Jerry and Adam with a wide stance and folded arms propping one finger over his mouth in thought. He was pretty much oblivious to the chit chat going on in front of him. He smacked his lips with an audible pop at the exact moment he made his decision to scratch that nagging itch. "Lou, can you take over here? I need to run a quick errand."

"Everything okay?" Kono asked. Chin looked up, clearly interested in the answer as well.

Danny replied with the same perceived sincerity that Chin had afforded him less than an hour ago in the car ride over. "Yeah, Grace left a notebook in my car that she needs for her homework and I'm going to run it by Rachel's. I'll catch up with you later."

~~~~~H50~~~~~

Danny knew he was pulling into the same parking spot he had used earlier, because the same white Camry with the wind deflectors and large scratch across the fuel door was parked in the spot next to him. He wasted no time getting back inside and headed straight for the warden's office where his assistant directed him to the prison's control center.

Leaning over the man's shoulder, Danny held onto the back of the chair and pointed at the screen in front of them. "Right there. Stop." The security technician had been scrolling through the footage of Gio's interrogation. "The angle's right but can you zoom in?" The technician hesitated, realizing what Danny was asking of him.

The warden's assistant who had remained in the room with them but was standing out of the way, reinforced the detective's command. He understood the scope of power that Five-0 had, as granted by the Governor. "It's okay, Jim, go ahead. Let him see what he needs." The technician finally executed the request.

Turning briefly to the warden's assistant, Danny nodded his appreciation then directed his attention back to the screen. "Okay, that's better. Can you go in a little more? Good. Now, can you brighten it up a bit?"

The technician dropped his arms from the keyboard and sat back in the chair knowing he had achieved what the detective wanted. Danny took the que and leaned in even closer. "That's it." He took a minute to read the text that appeared on Chin's phone then pulled out his phone and snapped a picture of the screen. While continuing to look at the screen, he patted the technician on the shoulder in appreciation. "Nice work. Thank you." Then he turned and shook the assistant's hand offering the same thanks before leaving.

Even though it was still very much daylight, the long shadows told him it was getting later than he thought and he still wanted to get by the hospital. Mary and Joanie had made it in from California and were spending most of the day with Steve which gave him comfort, but he hated to admit that he was having Neanderthal withdrawals and needed to check in. He left Halawa and headed toward town, calling Lou on his way to get an update of anything he would have missed at the meeting. When Lou asked about his task before hanging up, he vaguely conveyed that his errand had been successful.

Until he decided what to do with the new information, he had reasoned he would keep it close to the vest for now. He wondered how many communications Chin had already had with Gabriel and why the text came to _his_ phone and not Tani's, but that was insignificant compared to the message itself. He wasn't angry with Chin for not divulging the communication with Gabriel to him. He couldn't even say he was truly disappointed, maybe just a diluted version of it. He wished Chin had told him, but he understood. He believed in his same place, he would probably have done the same thing.

Danny stopped by the gift shop before heading up to the room he had visited earlier that morning. He paused outside the door to get an "all quiet" update from the posted guard and then slowly opened the door. Hiding his treasure behind his back, he displayed a toothless version of a Cheshire cat grin. The first thing he saw was Mary standing by the bed, holding a spoon of applesauce in front of Steve. He made a mental note to file away that image to use against his personal tormentor in the future.

Then he looked over to see the little blond five-year-old lost in her dreams with her knees pulled up to her chest and her head falling back to the side of the chair in an uncomfortable looking position. Danny's grin turned upside down in disappointment and he let his arms fall to his side revealing the reason for the grin. He held a stuffed rabbit with iridescent pink satin lining the inside of the ears and huge disproportionate eyes. He pointed the toy toward Joannie and shrugged before carefully positioning it on the nightstand beside Steve's bed as if the toy were watching him.

"Grace loved rabbits when she was little," he explained. "Looks like I'm too late." He whispered so as not to awaken the sleeping girl. "She's already conked out."

Mary propped her plastic spoon in the applesauce cup and placed it on the rolling table in front of Steve so she could give Danny a hug. "Hi Danny, it's good to see you."

Danny was surprised that she didn't lower her voice and he glanced over at Joannie to see she hadn't moved a muscle. "Oh, it's fine," she said as she waved her hand through the air. "Nothing's going to wake her up."

"Where's mine?" Steve asked, pointing to the rabbit.

"Where's… You big schmuck." Danny's volume adjusted to match the other two.

"Well, I'm the patient," he pleaded his case.

"This is not a 'get well' stuffy."

"Stuffy, again?"

"Yes, stuffy." He ignored the comment and continued, "This is a consolation stuffy."

"Consolation?"

"Tell you what, next time you're dragged twenty-five hundred miles across an ocean to visit a sick uncle, I'll make sure to get you one. 'kay?"

Steve pushed out his bottom lip to achieve the best pouting face he could muster. Danny rolled his eyes at him and turned to Mary who was waiting the two out so she could resume her feeding duties. "So, speaking of patients, how's this one doing?" talking to her as though Steve wasn't in the room.

"Uh, I'm right here. I'm fine, Danny."

"Uh," he replicated Steve's tone. "You're not fine. Once again, you were shot and _just_ got out of intensive care. Cool your jets, will ya? You'll get outta here when the doc says you can get outta here."

"Well, of course he's not ' _fine',_ but the doctor _did_ give a good report. Maybe it _won't_ be too long," Mary responded with optimism in her voice.

"Told ya," Steve childishly egged on.

Danny saw Steve look at Mary and then over to Joannie. He knew his partner well and it didn't have to be spoken that Steve would like an opportunity to talk with him privately. He knew he'd want to know about the status of the all-too-personal case. Danny was thankful he had the buffer of his visitors and could easily avoid the topic.

He wanted to tell Steve about the man backing Gabriel's return, but in doing so, it would lead to a whole slew of questions which could wind its way to an accidental slip and he was not ready to share what he had learned from the surreptitious text. Instead, he kept his visit very lighthearted and knowing that Steve would ask Mary for a minute as soon as Joannie awoke, he expedited his exit when the girl began to stir.

"But don't you want to give her the 'stuffy'?" Steve coaxed as Danny moved toward the door.

"You can give it to her for me. Just don't take the credit, like the sandwiches," he growled out through clinched teeth. "See ya later, Mary."

"Oh, okay, bye," she called out confused as to his quick exit and to his reference to sandwiches.

"See ya, partner," Steve grumbled to himself, having been left unsatisfied by the lack of information from the brief visit.

* * *

_~to be continued~_

\,,,/BronsonL


	13. Chapter 13

Just as Danny had predicted, Chin had given a believable reason to not come in the next morning. Danny's excuse was a _little_ more genuine as he _was_ following up on a breadcrumb from the case. He'd gotten multiple offers for company, but he declined them all and thankfully didn't get a lot of flak, figuring they thought he needed time alone. He was second guessing that decision when he pulled into a prime spot along the street and across from the gentleman's club. He could see every patron coming and going and there he waited.

The Camaro was too familiar. Chin would have made it in an instant, but he had never seen this gold Toyota SUV that Rachel had only owned for about a year. She had been easier to persuade than he thought. Even though she didn't have the excuse of having an appointment or a scheduled engagement, he still thought he would have to do more talking to coerce her into letting him borrow her car. He had prepared a full argument to back his request, summarized and ready to be recited in numeric order, but it just wasn't needed.

"I thought you got rid of that old thing years ago," she had said as he stood on the stoop, turning the blue Mets ballcap around and around in his hands in a nervous tic.

"Yeah, uh, no, just something for work," he had likewise nervously responded as he shoved the thing into his back pocket. She had invited him into her kitchen and stood with her hands on her hips as she listened to him use small talk as his opening statement to gradually prepare her for the blow. When he had finally got around to actually letting her know what he was there for, she had simply said, "Okay."

She had already started walking to where she kept her purse to get her keys as he questioned, "Okay?"

"Yes, okay." She had dangled the keys in front of him.

"All right, then. Thanks, Rach. I owe you one."

"Not necessary. Just no bullet holes, got it?"

"Yeah, right, no bullet holes." She had said it so matter-of-factly, that he did the same. With a sly smile he had added, "Keep the keys to the Camaro away from Grace?"

She had mimicked the smile and tilted her head to the side. He had quickly grabbed her shoulders and gave her a peck on the cheek followed by a final request for her to pass along his love to the kids. Then he had left in his newly acquired, unassuming vehicle.

Now he waited. The text had said for Chin to be there at noon and he had ten minutes to spare. Chin arrived with about five of those left. Peering from underneath the pulled down cap, Danny saw him survey his surroundings. Thankfully, Chin had not seen him. Danny watched as Chin sat in his white rental car, like him, waiting out the remaining minutes. Unless he had gotten another text, Chin was working on the same information as he was. He had just been instructed to come to this location, at this time, on this day, and no more.

Danny saw him open his car door, ostensibly to go into the establishment. Danny grabbed his door handle to get out as well, as soon as the coast was clear, but he paused when he saw Chin look to his phone and then close the door back. He pulled back into the traffic and Danny did a U turn to follow.

Once again knowing Chin's training and experience, Danny had to follow farther back than he normally would tailing a run-of-the-mill perp, and except for some close calls with traffic lights, he was able to keep him in his sights throughout the trip out of town.

The rural area would be easier for him to follow but more difficult to remain unseen. At this point, though, he had come too far. He wasn't about to break off now. So, he continued to stay as far back and with as many cars between them as possible until they arrived at what now appeared was going to be a remote destination.

Chin turned off the main road right in the midst of the vast pineapple farms. He then left the side road into an unanticipated, tightly clustered neighborhood. This small, but tightly packed, community in the middle of nowhere had to be the social and economic byproduct of the numerous employees of the nearby agricultural industry. He was about a block away from Chin when he saw him pull into the empty parking lot of the area's lone elementary school.

Danny didn't know if this was the ultimate destination or another red herring checkpoint before sending him off again to another unknown location. He continued at his same slow speed as he tipped the bill of his cap once again and looked away as he passed by, opting to back into a nearby driveway, covered above by a second-floor balcony. He surmised that the home's occupant was likely not there due to the hour in the middle of a work day and the fact that the spot was available in the first place. The vantage point wasn't the best, but the shadowed area aided in his concealment. As he sat in silence, he got the confirmation he needed to know that he had, in fact, arrived at their final stop.

~~~~~H50~~~~~

Chin thought the location odd, but he _was_ dealing with a crazy man. There wasn't another vehicle in this lot, but there were several other lots around the campus that he couldn't see with the multiple small buildings interspersed on the property. Taking a deep breath, he removed his gun from his holster and placed it in the glove compartment. He then exited his car, taking in his surroundings. It appeared to him as if he were all alone.

As he had been directed, he guardedly tried the door under the white awning. He wasn't surprised to find it unlocked. Stepping inside, he noticed cooler, but not comfortable, air. The thermostat had obviously been adjusted for the summer vacation break and a bead of sweat wasted no time rolling down the side of his face.

He looked to either side of him and found the hallways deserted. Although no one was around, an eerie chill ran up his spine as he felt as if he were being watched. The entrance to the gym was down the hall that was to his left, clearly labeled with bright yellow and cerulean blue paint. One of the two doors was open and he cautiously entered, wondering if he had just stepped into the lions' den. On the other side of the gym floor was a single metal door that noisily opened, almost simultaneously with his arrival. The elusive ghost had materialized. The loathsome degenerate had somehow crawled his way out of hell and now stood across from him.

He heard the door behind him close and didn't flinch when he felt the touch of two hands patting him down from behind. It was expected. This third attendee to the meeting had most likely been waiting behind the open door. He didn't bother to turn to see the new addition, at least not yet, as he couldn't quite take his eyes off of the man in front of him.

Gabriel sauntered closer. As he progressed forward, he raised his arms up and to the sides and turned all the way around in a giant sweeping motion for Chin to see that he, likewise, was unarmed. Chin was unimpressed by the performance, knowing full well that Gabriel wouldn't meet him without having an upper hand, most likely the man behind him.

Gabriel stopped about ten feet from him and spoke first. "Chin."

"Gabriel," he parried.

"You like our meeting place?" He didn't give Chin the chance to respond. "I thought it was fitting for our subject matter today… aaand I have a friend with connections. Nice outta the way place," he proudly added. "You got a few more lines around the eyes since last time I saw you."

Chin remained stolid and didn't offer a response.

Gabriel smirked at his lack of engagement and took one step forward. Reining in his smile, his face clouded in seriousness. "All right then, let's get down to brass tacks. Three years ago, I asked you to step in for me. Remember?"

Once again, Chin remained resolved.

His silence irked Gabriel. He stepped even closer and jerked his tee shirt up for Chin to see the scar on his abdomen. "Remember?! Remember that day, Chin? I almost died."

Chin's eyes flitted down to the wound that he had cauterized. "We were told you _did_ die that day."

Gabriel lowered his shirt and took a deep, calming breath. The smirk returned. "Yeah, I guess I had a guardian angel looking out for me that day… A very _rich_ guardian angel. You were told what you were _supposed_ to be told. You and your cohorts were probably too head over heels in jubilation to confirm it."

"They gave me your ashes."

"Not mine… obviously. Some other miserable, unknown soul." Gabriel stared at Chin for several long seconds, trying to gauge his reception of his version of the story. "So anyway, you do remember. How is she?"

Chin shifted on his feet, the first time he had wavered since meeting with Gabriel. "She's well, no thanks to you."

"No thanks to me?" Gabriel tilted his head and squinted his eyes in confusion. "That California air must have done something to your brain, brother-in-law."

"Don't call me that."

"Oh, excuse me, what should I call you? Father of the year? Thanks to _you_ , Sara almost died." Again, Chin was silent as he realized where Gabriel was going. "You let Carlos Diego kidnap her. I should have learned my lesson. I thought I could trust you, but just like with Malia, you failed."

" _Not…_ like Malia! We got Sara back, safe and sound. And by the way, Diego said you two were friends. What about that?"

"He lied," Gabriel snapped.

Chin ignored him. "If you were friends, it's on you that Sara was kidnapped."

Gabriel was enraged and stepped nose to nose with Chin. "I want… her back. You've proven you can't be trusted. I can take care of her now, the way she deserves."

Now Chin smiled, "Do you honestly think I'd just hand her over? Do you think I'm that stupid?"

"I'm her father and I can give her everything. She'd want for nothing."

"You _can't_ give her a normal childhood and a wholesome upbringing with a family, an ohana, that _loves_ and supports her at all times, not some poisonous, depraved environment, constantly surrounded by a den of vipers."

"You're wrong..."

"I'm right!" he interrupted. "And there is _no_ way, no way in _hell_ , I'd _ever_ let you get your filthy, greedy, murderous hands on my daughter."

"My… daughter," Gabriel vainly tried to correct him.

"Sara has forgotten you. She doesn't even know you exist and you're never going to see _my_ daughter again. You're going to be behind bars anyway. You might as well make it easy on yourself and turn yourself in."

The anger he felt from Chin's obdurate paternal declaration was forgotten as he hardily laughed at his last statement. "You mean, make it easy on _you_. No, I'm not going to do that. You know me better than that." Gabriel sighed and hung his head low, studying the ground before looking back at Chin. "I thought I could reason with you. I thought maybe, just maybe, somewhere down underneath that hardcore, holier than thou, virtuous exterior, there'd be a part of you that could empathize with me now that you've experienced what it's like. I thought you would realize how I must feel and that it's what Malia would want."

Chin took a step forward and felt a hand on his shoulder. "Don't! Just don't even act like she would approve of this… of you." Even in his defiance, he felt a twinge of uncertainty. Malia had been so soft-hearted and loving. She had loved her brother and her hope for him had been unwavering… but she would hate the things he had done. He quickly dismissed his doubts and forged on in confidence. "She wouldn't want this. She wouldn't want that little girl near you."

"I guess that blue blood runs too deep. Sooo, by the time I'm done with you and your friends, you'll be begging me to take her back."

"Your threats aren't going to work either."

"They're not threats. Remember? How is the commander doing anyway? The distinguished captain? And, how about the rest of the band? Have you been in touch lately? This afternoon?" Gabriel sneered. He saw a flicker of concern in the eyes of his opponent which gratified him. "I know she's not here, but you better be making arrangements to get her back on the island. I'll be in touch soon."

Chin's resolve was gone. Gabriel took several long steps backward, putting distance between them as Chin lurched forward only to be caught by the arms by the one behind him. He was held in place a few moments as he wrestled with the hold, trying to get free as he watched Gabriel turn and disappear through the same door from which he had entered.

"Gabriel!" Chin shouted as he struggled to get free to chase after his adversary. "Gabriel!"

Chin slapped at his neck as he felt the sting of a needle. He fell to the ground in a slump, landing first on his knees and then, giving in to the drug, he connected with the hard, wooden floor. He had not felt the pain of the jarring impact though because he had gone numb and drifted off into unconsciousness soon after.

* * *

_~to be continued~_

~~~~\,,,/


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N:** I seem to have lost my fire, thus the delay. I have _several_ more chapters _nearly_ ready so I'll try to post again soon, but it's been hard picking it up to work on the end. I will finish though (the good Lord willing and the creeks don't rise).

* * *

"Damn it." Danny's phone buzzed as soon as he had one foot outside the vehicle. The display showed Steve's name. "Fantastic timing, partner," he spoke to himself. "Sorry, but not now." He hovered his thumb above the decline button. Thinking better of his initial reaction, he went ahead and answered the call. "Hey, everything okay?"

"I should be asking _you_ that. Tani said you bowed out of work."

"I'm working. Just following up on a lead."

"What lead?"

Danny got out of the car and hurriedly crossed the road, stopping behind a large, dark green dumpster not far from the door that he had seen Chin enter. He maintained a casual tone as he continued the conversation. "Let me check it out first and then I'll let you know."

"Danny…"

"Has the doctor been in?" he quickly deflected, wanting to get off the line but needing to get there in a normal way. "Is he ready to kick you out yet?"

Danny heard Steve huff out his frustration and he grinned. "Yes, he's been in. Everything's good. They had me walking down the hall earlier this morning."

Danny scurried closer to the door, looking in all directions to see if he had been seen by anyone. "You walked down the hall. I'm proud of you, buddy. What's next, a 5K, a marathon? No wait, the Ironman. Really though, if you keep this up, they'll think you can take care of yourself." He tried the door handle and it was open but he didn't go in. "You won't be getting the sponge baths from the nurses anymore."

"Danny, are you sure everything is all right? You sound a little off. You're trying to be quiet. Aren't you? What's going on?"

"Yeah, yeah, just saw my annoying neighbor, Roy. I'm trying to avoid him so he doesn't ask to borrow the hedge clippers again. Took him three months to return them last time."

"Where are you again?"

"Here he comes. Gotta go. I'll be by later." He pushed the door open and walked in the school.

~~~~~H50~~~~~

"Danny!" It was too late. Danny had already disconnected from the call. "Damn it, Danny. What are you up to?"

The nurse came into his room and heard the last bit of the conversation. "Ooh, hope everything's okay."

"Oh, yeah, sorry 'bout that."

"No worries," she pardoned. "Time to clean the incisions and change out the bandages."

"Didn't someone just do that?"

"That was two hours ago and you've been napping since your walk."

"All right, but can you give me a minute? I need to make another quick phone call."

She went to the far side of the bed and pressed buttons on one of the machines. "Looks like you're going to need another bag for the pump anyway. I'll give you your minute and be right back."

"Maybe two?"

"Maybe two," she agreed.

Steve dialed Jerry who answered right away. "Commander McGarrett, hi, uh, what's up? Uh, what can I do for you?"

"Jerry, I need you to do me a favor. Can you check Danny's GPS and let me know where he is right now?"

"Sure. Everything all right?"

"It's fine. I just talked to him, but he… you know, just track him down for me, okay?"

"Well, his GPS says he's at his ex's address."

"Rachel's?"

"Yes, sir. That's where it's showing. I can trace his phone if you want."

"Yeah, that would be good. Go ahead and do that. I'll call Rachel. Just let me know."

He immediately made the call. "Rachel? Hey there, it's Steve."

"Hi, Steve. It's good to hear from you. You sound well. Are you doing better?"

"Getting there. Hey, Rachel, is Danny there? Can I talk to him? He's avoiding me."

"He's not here. I thought you knew. He borrowed my car this morning."

"He did what?"

"Yes, I think he was using it on a stakeout or something. He didn't tell you?"

"No, he did not. Do you know where he was going?"

"He didn't tell me, but whoever he was following must know him. Not only did he want to trade the Camaro for my car, but he had his old ballcap and sunglasses."

"Hmm, okay. I'm getting another call. I'll check in with you later."

"Okay, take care."

"Thanks, Rachel." He dropped that call and answered the other one. "Jerry, what 'cha got?"

"So, he's not anywhere near Rachel's place. I show his phone in Whitmore Village, up near the pineapple farms."

"Can you get Junior or Adam or Chin or _somebody_ to go up and check on him? He seemed pretty cryptic when I talked to him."

"Junior's headed to see you at the hospital and Kono's with Tani at HPD headquarters. Chin didn't come in this morning either, but I just saw Adam around here somewhere. I'll get him to go."

"Wait, Jerry, Chin didn't come in either. Where's he?"

"Not sure."

"Trace his phone, too. Danny was trying to hide from someone that knew him. Makes me wonder."

Jerry was able to get the information from the powerful computer at The Palace quickly. "Interesting."

"Jer, what is it?"

"Chin's phone is showing at… Whitmore Village."

"What the hell? All right, send Adam up there. I'll call and tell him what I know when he's on the way."

"Copy."

~~~~~H50~~~~~

Danny had heard the muffled voices coming from down the hallway. He followed them to outside two large double doors that were labeled as the school's gymnasium. He strained to listen to the conversation on the other side.

"… _I'll be in touch soon_." He recognized the voice. Then he heard Chin's distressed cry out to Gabriel. Danny charged through the door, unaware of what he would be met with or how many of Gabriel's goons would be on the other side. What he did know was that his friend was alone and, by the sound of it, in need of an ally.

Danny had to shield his eyes from the bright light that flashed from the narrow window in the exterior door as it crossed the path of the sun when the door clanked shut. Gabriel was nowhere in sight. He had missed him. With a quick assessment of the area, he saw only two people left. One man was crouched on one knee above Chin who was lying on the ground, his last movement merely a twitch before becoming motionless. He removed his hand from Chin and placed his elbow on the bent knee to aid him in standing.

In what felt like slow motion, Danny saw the man rise. Even through the scruffy red beard, he could see the satisfied smile on the man's tilted head as he saw Danny. In one fluid motion, the man dropped a syringe from his fist and reached behind him to the protrusion printed at his back waistband. Because of their close proximity, Danny's instinctual, more than mental, decision was to prevent the draw and his body reacted.

The man was small in stature, similar to Danny, but stocky, so he aimed low. He successfully took him off his center of gravity and found they were both on the floor. The heavier man used his size and was able to gain a positional advantage and manipulated Danny below him while still trying to get to his weapon. Danny wrapped both hands around his wrist after the man had managed to pull the pistol free.

Danny kneed him in the stomach and the blow allowed him to roll the man onto his back. The gun slid off the man's fingertips and across the floor. Both were able to make it to their feet as they traded punches. On one punch to the man's midsection, Danny was off and grazed his right side. His opponent was able to take advantage of the misjudged momentum and swung Danny around into a headlock. Danny coughed and gasped as he struggled to get free. He felt he was quickly losing the ability to breathe, but in one last surge of adrenaline, he released his hold and his fight with the arm around his neck and drove an elbow into the man's side. He heard a grunt and felt a loosening of the man's grip. He tried again and the grip loosened even more.

He was now able to get a modicum of air. With the rejuvenation, he took the man's arm in both of his hands and propelled himself forward toward the floor taking his attacker over his shoulder. Finally, being free and taking advantage of his attacker's stunned state, he tore at the top buttons on his shirt as if that would improve the flow of oxygen into his lungs. He then backed toward the gun that lay on the floor, one deliberate step after another. He kicked it in the opposite direction of the supine man and finally pulled his own from its holster to gain full control of the situation. With one hand holding his P30 toward the downed man and one hand on his knee, he heaved in air and noticed what he couldn't have a few seconds before, that his heart was pounding, his muscles were already protesting, and bright red drops were splattering on the shiny wooden floor below him. He swept his left hand across his upper lip and then examined it to see his nose was the source of the blood.

"Danny?" The call was distant, but he heard it again and again and each time it became louder and clearer. He recognized the voice as Adam's. Both of the doors burst open as Adam surged through the center of them. "What the…"

"Adam! I got this! Chin! Help Chin!" Danny had holstered his gun and after getting the man in cuffs, took a moment to shake the pain and stiffness from his already damaged hand.

Adam stood in shocked silence a moment as he surveyed the scene. "Yeah… on it. You all right? You sure you're all right?" he yelled over as he made his way to Chin and pulled out his phone.

"I'm good. How is he?"

Adam knelt beside Chin and felt for a pulse. He was relieved to find a strong, healthy heartbeat under his fingertips. He immediately called for an ambulance and rolled Chin over to try to revive him. Unlike Danny, Chin's outward appearance was relatively unscathed. His breathing was steady, and besides being unresponsive, he seemed to be unharmed.

Adam repeated his name and lightly slapped one side of his face and then the other to see if he could get any reaction. There was none. He accepted that he was relegated to waiting for the medics. As he did, he kept a watchful eye on Danny who, despite his haggard looking state, was doing an adept job of securing the one that must have caused this mess, even though he still didn't know what this mess was.

"Adam? How's Chin?!" Perturbed, Danny repeated his question.

"Seems okay. Just out of it," he answered in a perplexed tone.

"Syringe. The guy had a needle. Do you see it?"

Adam had to twist around to see behind him when he didn't see it in his nearby vicinity. "Yeah, got it!" He had gotten up and procured the syringe and held it up for Danny to see.

Danny moved from beside the man to facing him and maneuvered him up against the padded wall with his forearm to the man's throat. "What was in that?" No answer afforded the still unidentified man a strong left cross. "What did you give him? What was in that syringe?" he demanded.

Danny pulled back to give him another wallop, but the man cringed and relented. "All right. All right. He'll be fine. It was just a fast acting but mild sedative meant to knock him out so we could get away. He should be waking up soo… well see, there you go." The man lifted his chin toward his victim since he didn't have the use of his hands to gesture.

"Chin, buddy, you okay?" Adam started talking as soon as he saw Chin reach his hand to rub his forehead and then to his sore neck. His eyes opened next.

"Adam? Where am I?" He turned his head to one side then the other, appearing to be concentrating on a basketball goal hanging from the ceiling. As soon as he recalled what had happened, he jolted up onto his elbows and attempted to sit up.

"Whoa. Take it easy." Adam laid a hand on his shoulder to implore Chin to settle back and take things slower.

Accepting the forced position for now, he stayed put and sought eye contact with Adam. "Gabriel. Where's Gabriel? He was just here."

"Gabe… Gabriel Waincroft was here?" Adam expressed his shock, but Chin was determined and demanded his attention first. Instead of trying to hold him down, Adam helped him sit up. "Go slow, okay? You were drugged. Give it a minute."

Sounds of sirens brought not only medics, but also HPD units. In no time, the four men were joined by a host of uniformed officers and medics. Before conceding his spot to a technician determined to check out Chin, Adam eagerly sought out more information. "Looks like you two have a lot of explaining to do, but for now just tell me where he went."

Danny had handed off Gabriel's man to one of the officers. As he walked toward Chin and Adam, he called out to the officer, "Get him to the basement at The Palace. I'll be there soon." Then turning back to address Adam's question, he pointed to the back door. "Went through there, but he's long gone by now."

Adam ignored the comment and seeing that Danny and Chin were in good hands took off in a jog towards the door. "You're wasting your time!" Danny yelled out. Adam disappeared through the door.

Danny sighed in resignation at Adam's determination and then shook his head in abject refusal and swatted the air to wave off a medic when she tried to offer assistance. "I'm fine. Just a few cuts and scrapes. Take care of him." He pointed to Chin who was now on his feet and doing a good impression of Danny warding off the help.

The graying man that was trying to help Chin and coax him into a ride to the hospital bent down and picked up his kit. "Let's go Jules. Obviously, we're not needed here. You Five-0 people are so daggone stubborn." The younger female medic reluctantly followed his lead.

Chin and Danny were both a little surprised that he had given up so easily and almost in unison blamed one name, "McGarrett."

* * *

_~to be continued~_

\,,,/BronsonL


	15. Chapter 15

As they stood side by side, waiting for Adam to return and watching the remaining activity, Danny laid his hand on Chin's shoulder. "You sure you're all right? He said it was just a sedative, but..."

"No, really, I'm fine. They'll check the contents of the syringe but in the meantime, I just need to be working this. There's no way I could sit around in a hospital."

"Yeah, I think you've tried and failed at that before," Danny recalled.

Chin smiled and nodded. "Guess we _are_ stubborn."

"Guess so."

The next several seconds were heavy with uncomfortable silence. Both men rubbed their aches, scratched their nonexistent itches, and fidgeted until they couldn't take it any longer. Danny beat Chin to it, "So, out with it. What the hell?"

"Okay, okay, I'll tell you everything. You deserve that much, but don't you want to wait for Adam. He's going to want to know, too. No sense repeating myself."

"Oh, the whole team is going to have to have an account of this, including Steve."

"What about you? How did you find me?"

"I followed you."

"You followed me? From where?"

"Your first arranged meeting spot, on Kalakaua."

"How did you know about that?"

Adam dejectedly came through the same door he had run out of a few minutes before. "We'll finish this with the others. No more secrets?" Danny whispered to Chin. Chin nodded.

"Nowhere. Not a sign of him," Adam said with a shrug.

Danny didn't verbalize an 'I told you so' thought. "We'll get HPD to run the protocol, bird in the air, canvas the area. Maybe we'll get something." He said it to encourage Adam… and Chin, but he didn't really believe they'd get anything himself. "What we do have is one of Gabriel's men waiting for us in rendition. I think that's our next step. Give 'em the once over."

Adam looked around the scene. "Where are the medics? You two should be making a trip to the hospital to get checked out."

Danny used the towel that had been given to him by 'Jules' and swiped at his nose. "Naa, see? Nothing there." The stream from his nose had in fact ceased.

"You missed a spot," Chin said as he pointed at his own right temple.

Danny folded the towel over again and touched it to the side of his head where Chin had indicated. When he pulled it away, sure enough, he was staring at a bright red streak on the stark white towel. He sheepishly smiled at Chin and put the towel back with some pressure to stop the flow.

"Chin? What about you?" Adam turned his attention to the other injured party.

"I'm with Danny. We sent them away. I'll be a hundred percent in no time. Just a little foggy. We need to get back and get information out of that guy."

"And? What else?" Adam was tenacious as he hinted at the obvious elephant in the room.

"…and we're all going to have a talk," Danny acquiesced. "The team deserves to know everything. No secrets."

Chin's head popped up and his eyes were wide at the mention of the team. "I forgot. I totally forgot." He rubbed his forehead as if that would help the fogginess go away. "Gabriel. He threatened the team. After I dismissed one of his warnings, he tried to provoke me by asking if I'd been in touch with you guys lately. Adam, when's the last time you've spoken with them?"

"Junior was going to visit Steve at the hospital. Tani and Kono were headed to HPD to register evidence. Lou and Jerry were both at HQ."

Danny already had his phone out dialing Steve. "Chin, try Kono. Adam, call Jerry and make sure he and Lou stay put." Danny's call to Steve went unanswered, so he immediately dialed Junior.

"Danny, I'm glad to hear from you, man. Steve's been going crazy wondering where you are."

"Where is he? I just tried to call him."

"They took him down for some tests. He argued like hell, but they won out."

"Okay, look, you need to stay right there for now. Don't leave Steve alone until you hear back from me."

"What's going on?"

"We've gotten a hint of a threat from Gabriel, but nothing concrete. Could be playing more of his games, but we just want to be sure. Are you good with hanging out there a little while?"

"Yes, of course. No problem."

"Have you heard from Tani lately?"

"No, she and Kono left out before I did. I haven't heard from them in a while. Should I call her?"

"Chin's trying Kono now, but it wouldn't hurt. If you reach her, let her know what's going on and tell her to stay with Kono and to keep her eyes peeled. Again, probably nothing, but we just want to be ready in case."

"Copy that."

When Danny got off the call with Junior, he looked to the others. Chin still had the phone to his ear and shook his head at Danny to answer his unspoken question. Adam gave a thumbs up about Lou and Jerry and turned his attention to Chin after getting the A-OK from Danny on Junior and Steve. Chin lowered his phone and pushed the button again. Again, there was no answer.

~~~~~H50~~~~~

"I shouldn't be long if you want to wait out here for me. Well, unless they're having a busy day, then it may be a while. Can't count on criminals to run nine to five," Tani joked. She and Kono had enjoyed a pleasant morning together, Tani introducing Kono to her favorite coffee joint and Kono letting Tani in on her juice bar secret.

They had been enthralled with each other's tales from their respective times with Five-0, some serious, but more humorous. They found the stories of the people they had each gotten to know on different planes of time to be very recognizable and it created a common ground on which to build their own friendship.

"I'll come with. It'll be good to see some old faces again."

When they got to the evidence room, the officer behind the counter asked for the jacket number of the case before he could accept the envelope for processing. "Dang it," Tani exclaimed as she felt the two back pockets of her jeans, finding them empty. "Kono, would you go out to the car and get my phone? I bet it's in the seat. Do you mind?"

"Sure. Be right back."

Tani stood in front of the counter tapping her fingers as she awkwardly waited. The young rookie manning the room leaned his elbow on the counter and smiled a bit too enthusiastically for Tani's liking. She checked out each corner of the ceiling, trying to avoid his attention. "So, how _you_ doin'?" he self-assuredly asked.

With fleeting images of Joey Tribbiani and their very own Eric Russo coming to mind, Tani broke an insincere smile and added a, "fine".

"You're with Five-0, huh? Must be pretty exciting."

"I'm just going to run out and see what's keeping my friend." She held up an index finger. "'kay? Okay," she answered herself. "Be right back."

"Not going anywhere!" the young officer yelled out as she left.

When Tani got to the steps and looked down the road to where her car was parked, she rolled her eyes and smiled when she saw Kono standing shoulder to shoulder with an apparent tourist holding a paper, probably a map, pointing at an unknown spot in a direction away from the police department.

"Figures," Tani mouthed, beginning to understand more as she witnessed the helpful and thoughtful legend in action. She was going to go back inside to wait in the air conditioning, when a van screeched to a stop beside Kono and the 'tourist'. "Kono," she spoke, knowing good and well Kono couldn't hear her. She quickly made her way down the steps and broke into a full sprint at the bottom. "Kono!"

The 'tourist' dropped his side of the map and slid behind Kono and grabbed her around the waist from behind with the intent of flinging her into the back of the van that someone had opened from the inside. That someone jumped out to help. Because her arms were still free, Kono was able to use the heel of her hand and drive it into the nose of the one that had come from the van. The man immediately bent over in pain and held his hand to his gushing face. That bought her some time and she stomped on the foot of the man holding her and then struck him with an elbow. The man was persistent though and didn't give up as he fought to get her into the van as he yelled at the bleeding man to get in as well.

By the time Tani caught up to the action, she had her gun drawn but could not get a clear shot with Kono in the fray. She reholstered her gun and kicked the bent over man in the face. She then kicked the back of the knee of the one holding Kono and his leg gave out. His hold loosened and Kono broke free.

The man with the busted face managed to jump into the back of the van and shouted to the driver, "Get outta here! Bitch ain't worth it. Just go!" The van pulled away, leaving their abandoned comrade to deal with the underestimated but clearly more-than-capable spitfires.

The forsaken man pulled out a gun in desperation and aimed to shoot, but both women were able to do the same. Tani hit her mark with her first two shots and the man went down. Kono tried for the van's tires, but it had already gotten too far away. Kono turned her weapon toward the downed man as Tani kicked his gun away and felt for a pulse.

She looked up at Kono and shook her head. "We won't be getting anything out of this one," Tani confirmed. Kono finally breathed out a huge breath and lowered her weapon. "Hey, you okay?" Tani questioned.

Several uniformed officers and plain clothes staff converged on the site, arriving after the sounds of gunfire alerted them.

"Yeah, thanks for the assist," Kono said as she holstered her gun and planted her hand on her hip.

"Looks like you had it under control. Pretty badass."

Kono smiled. "You too. You're going to fit in just fine. Did you get a plate? I didn't."

"Wasn't one." She pointed her thumb toward the dead man. "Maybe this one's fingerprints will help."

Kono nodded. They each gave a quick preliminary report to the ranking officer that arrived on the scene and let the crime scene unit take over.

"Oh, sorry, I never made it to the car to get your phone," Kono admitted.

"No problem." She skipped across the road to her car and retrieved her phone. As she was walking back, she checked the screen and saw her alerts. "Four missed calls. Something must be up."

Kono pulled out her phone because it was buzzing. "Three here," she stated before answering.

Before Tani tried calling Junior back, she waited to hear who was calling Kono.

"Kono, am I glad to hear your voice," Chin said. "You weren't answering. Is everything okay?"

"Well, now that you mention it…"

* * *

_~to be continued~_

\,,,/BronsonL

.

What do you think? Do Tani and Kono make a good team? :)


	16. Chapter 16

"You wanted to see me?" Gabriel asked.

"Yes, sit." Masuda motioned to the chair in front of his desk. He was flanked on both sides by two extraordinarily large sentries, one of which had been in Gabriel's employ years before when Gabriel had held a similar position as the man in front of him. He was not met with a return glance when Gabriel's eyes sought out a recognition from the soldier. "So, do you want to explain what happened yesterday?"

"There was a miscue. It won't happen again."

"Is that what you call it? A miscue? I have one man dead and another in custody? Who knows what he'll give up? You put a giant bullseye on your back when you shot the Five-0 leader. _Your_ bullseye means a microscope on _my_ business. So, you still want to call it a miscue?"

Gabriel had a response but wisely chose to harness his tongue.

"I know you have this personal vendetta against Hawaii's greatest defenders," he said sarcastically.

"It's not a vendetta."

"Well, my interpretation of the picture you've painted is that there's revenge all over it. You may have other objectives in mind, but if you look at the whole picture, vendetta is a pretty accurate description."

Gabriel breathed out slowly and swiped his hand over his mouth. He could also have sworn he saw his former employee finally dart his eyes toward him in sheer curiosity he was sure, giving away his elusive recognition.

"Now this whatever-it-is ended up in front of the f*cking police headquarters. Do you realize how idiotic that was?"

"It was a bad call on their part. They were supposed to grab one of 'em when they had the opportunity. I would not have chosen that spot."

"And, tell me again why you were going to take one of the members of Five-0?"

"Leverage."

"Leverage."

Gabriel nodded. "That and to prove to Chin Ho Kelly that I'm not messing around."

"For your… other... objective," Masuda clarified. "Gabriel, I like you. You understand what I have done for you, yes?"

Again, Gabriel nodded but hung his head, completely understanding that he would not be there, would not be alive if it wasn't for him. "Yes."

"I've given you the slack you've needed for weeks now, but your little side antics are compromising the business. I'm going to have to pull the plug. You've put us at too much risk as it is."

"But, I… I mean… " Gabriel gripped the arms of the chair and pulled himself to the edge of the seat. Masuda patiently waited him out as he slowed and gathered his thoughts. "Mr. Masuda, you've been very patient and I am extremely grateful for all you have done for me, but it's just about finished. I just need a little more time and then you'll have my full availability… whatever you need."

Slowly revealing a condescending smile, Masuda leaned forward and folded his hands on his desk. "I don't believe you understood me, so let me rephrase. The _business…_ will _always_ come first. I have invested a _lot_ of time, money, and resources into you. I _will_ have your 'full availability' now… or I _will_ cut my losses and find someone who can do the job and I will no longer require your services. Have I made myself clear, Mr. Waincroft?"

An internal fire burned within Gabriel. He was so close to what he desired most, but he understood all too well the power of this other external force. His posture involuntarily deflated in submission. There was only one response to Masuda's question, "Yes. You've made yourself clear."

Before rising from his chair, Gabriel hesitated to see if he felt the permission to do so.

"Good." Masuda believed he saw the death of defiance in his second's eyes and felt secure he had gotten his point across. He pushed his chair back in preparation to stand.

That was Gabriel's cue, so he rose as well but was only able to achieve a stance of wavering attention as his boss left the room.

~~~~~H50~~~~~

It had been a full two weeks since the incidents at the Honolulu Police Department headquarters and the school.

There had been zero communications from Gabriel.

The prior two weeks had been a time of transparency and revelation, revelation from an apologetic Chin about what had transpired between Gabriel and himself that had led to the secret meeting, and revelation from Danny with an explanation of how he became aware of Chin's subterfuge and his attempt at dealing with Gabriel on his own.

Standing at Steve's bedside in his hospital room, Danny had given him the whole account of everything that he had been missing out on. For Steve, it all was a lot to take in, but that little tidbit of information about Danny's solo escapade in itself had been enough to send him reeling. Then seeing Danny's injuries on top of that had pushed him over the edge.

Danny knew his friend was getting back to normal when he was able to hold his own in the subsequent rant fest that ensued. Steve had even made it to his feet without any help just so he could poke a finger into Danny's chest to get his point across. Normally, that act would have sent Danny into ballistic territory, but his gratitude for an angry Steve, over a dead Steve, squelched any temper of his own.

Steve got to the customary conclusion of the winning side of their argument a little more rapidly than he was used to, and he noticed. His best friend, the closet softie, had given up early. Steve's built up worry, disguised as anger, had evaporated into his own regretful guilt over Danny's capitulation. He had discerned his partner's gratitude and backed off quickly. They both had contentedly transitioned to their more normal lighthearted jabs.

The kidnapping attempt on Kono had affected Chin and Adam more than it had her. What had disturbed Kono much more was the audacity of Gabriel and the fact that the initial contact to her cousin had taken place in her own house without her knowledge. Kono was relegated to try to allay Chin's guilt daily. Adam suffered similar guilt believing if he had been with her that day, he could have prevented the attack. No harm had come to Kono or Tani since they had adeptly handled the situation. Having to remind their team of that fact over and over again had become tiresome for the two of them, but they continued until the whole encounter seemed to become a forgotten memory.

One lasting, notable result of the incident with Kono and Tani, though, had been that much greater care was taken by all the members of this jointly assembled mega-team in the days following the attack. The threats, and Gabriel's obvious willingness to act on them, had clearly made their mark. A police presence had been maintained at the hospital around the clock during Steve's stay and Chin had doubled up on the detail assigned to Abby and Sara.

Early on, everyone had been antsy due to the wait and tensions had been running high. However, a subtle shift began to occur the longer they went with no contact from Gabriel and no fruitful leads. Even through rendition, the red-headed, syringe wielding, muscle from the school had not flipped. He feared the reach of his boss, even into the correctional system, more than he did these renowned paragons of law enforcement.

Chin, especially, was surprised that they had not heard anything from Gabriel. After witnessing his intense passion, he began to think that maybe something had happened to him. Even though the thought of that was heartening, there was still no proof, and the fact was that until there was proof of Gabriel's death, real proof this time, none of the members of the team would be completely at ease.

However, a feeling of complacency did begin to develop. Crime on the island had not stopped and even though the governor had given leeway in the last weeks due to the extenuating circumstances, the task force began to feel an unspoken pressure and eased into the cases that were awaiting them.

Chin and Kono had been away from their respective positions for longer than they had expected and they were eager to return to a more normal existence. As much as he would hate to see them leave again, Steve even urged them to go and get back to their lives. He understood they could not continue to put their work and family on hold indefinitely.

Steve had been released from the hospital and was recuperating comfortably at home. Mary had stuck around, needing to be sure her brother could get along without her. Steve promised he would be fine and his friends each privately assured her they would look after him as well. They amused her at how they had come to her, one by one, all at different times to keep it from the others, but all with the same promise. They had succeeded in making her feel more secure that she, too, could prepare to head home.

A couple of days after making her decision, Chin arrived at Steve's home to pick up Mary and Joanie to take them to the airport. His flight to San Francisco was scheduled for departure a few hours after Mary's to Los Angeles. Though willing, he had not needed to fulfill his promise to the informant at Halawa because Latimer Giovani had chosen to forgo that option when the opportunity to leave a week earlier presented itself since it was uncertain how long Chin would be extending his stay.

Kono would be leaving the following day, headed to Kansas City. They had already said their goodbyes at Kono's house and he had left her there with Adam standing by her side. Adam had been a constant presence since the kidnapping attempt and it gave Chin peace in leaving his younger cousin in his care, even if it was just temporarily, and… possibly hope for something more for the pair. He wished nothing but happiness for both of them, in whatever form that may be.

Chin darted through the rain as if he could avoid the drops. It had been pouring for a couple of hours, unusual for that long, at that time of year. Mary beat Steve to the door. "Would you, pleeeease take it easy? I can get the door."

"Yes, ma'am," Steve responded to the scolding by taking a step back and giving her the space.

"Hi, Chin. Thank you so much for the ride. Joanie!" She called out into the big house before turning back to Chin. "I think I'm about ready."

"No problem. Steve, you're looking good."

"Gettin' there, brother."

"I bet you're going to miss all the attention when Mary's gone."

He started to shake his head and then changed to a nod when he saw Mary look for his answer. He nervously rubbed his hand down the back of his head and stopped at his neck. "Of course, I'm going to miss my wonderful sister and niece who take such good care of me."

"Liar," Mary smiled as she gave Steve a peck on the cheek.

They had spread out their goodbyes over the course of the morning over pancakes and coffee. She had gone over the drug regimen and his doctor appointments more than once to make sure he got it. Now it was time to leave.

"Chin?" Steve started.

Chin glanced at Mary and stopped him before he could start. "I know. I know. Just let the team do their thing and you concentrate on getting better. Danny's got it all under control."

"That's what I worry about," he joked. "I will. Thank you for everything."

"Thank _you_." He turned back to Mary. "Is this all you have?" Chin asked of the few and small bags.

"I travel light."

He smiled and shrugged before picking up the two larger bags of the group. "Hope you've got your rain gear. It's pouring out there."

Mary grabbed Joanie's hand and gave Steve one more hug.

"Love ya, Mare."

"Love you, too, big brother." Steve gingerly squatted down. "Steve, you shouldn't."

"I got this," he consoled. "Love you, Joanie. You come back and see me soon. Okay?"

"I will," she softly answered. Steve got his hug from his niece, kissed her on the cheek, and stood.

Chin shook Steve's hand and pulled him in for a gentle hug before they stepped off the porch dodging the rain drops.

* * *

_The End (just kidding… *evil laugh* *tapping fingers together*)_

_._

_._

_~to be continued~_

\,,,/BronsonL


	17. Chapter 17

Gabriel greeted Masuda at the door of the warehouse. The head of the organization had only given an hour notice before his arrival. He wanted to evaluate the arriving shipment for himself.

He had been pleased with Gabriel's productivity the past couple of weeks. As expected, Gabriel had not given him a reason to doubt his loyalty. This trip was more to check on the latest arms shipment than it was to check on Gabriel. After Gabriel showed him to the containers full of crates, he had stepped back out of the way but stayed in close proximity to be available if needed. He watched as Masuda finished his inspection and made his way to the warehouse office to have a few words with one of his tech guys.

Gabriel looked to one of the wide-open warehouse doors when he heard a car pull up. He knew there was security monitoring the location all around, so he didn't feel any sense of threat from unwanted visitors.

Rain was still coming down and the driver got out and hustled inside, hunching his shoulders as he went. He was pleased to see he would not have to waste precious time searching for the one he'd come to find.

The driver was Simon, one of Gabriel's most loyal employees from years ago and also one of his closest confidants. Simon began his employ with Mr. Masuda soon after the collapse of Gabriel's organization. Gabriel had taken a risk, to himself and to Simon, when he had asked him to continue to follow up on the Chin Ho Kelly situation as time would allow between duties assigned by Masuda. Simon had agreed without hesitation. He would be loyal to Masuda up to the point of conflicting with his loyalty to Gabriel. Gabriel had given him opportunities he would never have had otherwise and he wasn't about to forget it.

The day Masuda had put the kibosh on his side project, Gabriel had superficially intended to heed the boss's command, having personally administered and witnessed the consequences cast upon other disloyal and even unintentionally substandard performing employees. However, as much as his head understood the seriousness of the command, internally he could not let it go. His boldness grew slowly in those few days after their meeting, until the point he had finally asked Simon to help him without Masuda's knowledge.

Simon glanced over to the thick, sound muffling windows of the warehouse office. He could see Masuda, arms folded across his chest, standing behind a man seated at a computer, watching the contents of the screen as the man typed on the keyboard. He felt comfortable enough with Masuda's distraction to divulge some information to Gabriel.

Gabriel likewise checked the office and their general vicinity for himself to see if they had enough privacy to proceed. When he felt satisfied, he looked out from his lowered eyes and asked for an update.

"Sorry about the timing." Simon's eyes shot to the office and back. "There's been a development," Simon whispered.

"Well, out with it," Gabriel growled impatiently.

"She's here… on the island. I saw her, but I don't know for how much longer."

Gabriel pushed Simon up against one of the crates. "What did you say?"

Simon was taken aback by the physical manhandling, but he continued, "I saw her, your daughter, with Kelly."

Gabriel took his hand off of Simon and feigned dusting off an unseen speck on Simon's jacket. He then rubbed the back of his neck to calm down. "Where?"

"That's the thing, boss. They were at the airport. I think they're leaving the island."

"Like hell!" He had spoken a little too loudly for Simon's preference and was again straining to see Masuda's whereabouts. Gabriel seemed to be unconcerned and oblivious to Masuda now, fully enthralled with what he was hearing. "Tell me more. Are you sure she wasn't _arriving_? Was anyone else with her?"

"I saw them after they arrived at the airport. He was turning in his rental and yes, there was a blond lady with him."

"That would be the illustrious Inspector Dunn. Wonder if she goes by Kelly now?"

"Do you think he had intended on meeting with you and gave up when he didn't hear from you?"

"I thought I'd have a bigger fight. The thing with his cousin must have gotten to him. And the child? Are you _sure_ it was her? Did you see her?"

"Well, I didn't see her face, but it was a little girl. She was wearing a hooded rain jacket and was holding a toy in one hand and Kelly's hand with the other. The lady was following beside them."

Gabriel perked up at hearing about the 'toy'. "What kind of toy was she carrying?"

"A stuffed animal."

"Newton," Gabriel breathed out.

"Who?"

"A rabbit. The toy was a rabbit," Gabriel said as a statement more than a question.

"Well, yeah, I think it was. How did you know?"

Gabriel didn't answer. His eyes narrowed in thought. Finally, Gabriel patted the back of his friend's shoulder. "Simon, this is good. You did a good job. I won't forget this. You'll be rewarded."

Simon smiled with pride, pleased that he had made Gabriel happy. The smile turned down when he watched Gabriel sternly head for the door. He did not tell anyone he was leaving or where he was going and he did not look back to see if Masuda witnessed it either. Once again, Simon shot a glance in Masuda's direction before following after Gabriel.

He stood back and watched as Gabriel looked around at his surroundings. There were many warehouses of all sizes, ages, and activity levels situated around the port. Several were Yakuza properties owned under the veil of unassuming shell companies. Gabriel headed for one of those that was nearby and a bit larger than the one they had just left. Simon was not trying to conceal his presence and continued to keep him in sight. He did not interrupt when Gabriel pulled out his phone to make a call.

Gabriel had found the privacy he was looking for here. Though being used as storage for various crates and containers, there were no workers present in this building today. As the phone was ringing on the other end, he gave an indifferent sideways look toward Simon, whom he knew had followed him. He then looked up and turned, scrutinizing the building he was standing in as he waited impatiently for Chin to answer. He made use of the time, filing away details of the building, access points, doors, interior rooms, open spaces, and the arrangement of the stored contents. The unexpected amount of waiting time brought him back to his current task.

"Damn it," he said when the call ended without an answer. He pressed the button again and held the phone to his ear as he listened for an answer. While he waited, he instructed Simon, "Watch the door. Let me know if anyone's coming." He thought he may have to try a third time and started to wonder if he _was_ too late. He considered the possibility that Chin had actually brought his daughter back to Hawaii and because he had not made the promised connection, he was about to lose out on his chance to get her back. Just as he was about to give up on this attempt and try one more time, he heard the familiar click of an answer. He stopped his analyzation of the warehouse and focused on the call. After a couple of seconds and no answer, he spoke first. "Hello?"

~~~~~H50~~~~~

Chin was on his laptop at the gate's waiting area when the airline called out the announcement for the boarding of his flight. He shut down his computer and packed it into his carryon then slung the bag onto his back. As he was getting ready to present his pass to the attendant, he felt the buzz in his pocket. For a moment, he considered ignoring the call. He was about to get on the flight and would be of no use to anyone for the next five to six hours anyway. Then he realized that Abby may be calling him, he apologetically smiled at the airline attendant and stepped out of the line, displaying his phone as the reason. Stepping aside and away from the impatient travelers, he finally checked the identity of the caller and knitted his brow. He hesitated to answer, but decided he needed to.

"Hey. You almost missed me. I was just about to board the plane."

"Well then, I'm glad I caught you. You may want to postpone your trip."

"What are you talking about, Steve? What's happened?"

"We've heard from Gabriel."

* * *

_~to be continued~_

\,,,/ BronsonL


	18. Chapter 18

Danny was at Steve's house when he had gotten the call. Chin had turned the phone over to Danny before he left, assuming its use was seemingly obsolete without ever getting the at-one-time expected call. Continuous monitoring of the number Gabriel had used to call this burner had always found it to be inactive. It had remained powered off or perhaps it had even been destroyed.

After Chin had given it to him the night before, Danny had mindlessly plugged it in to charge alongside of his personal phone with the intention of carrying it with him around the clock as Chin had been doing for the last weeks. However, as recently as this morning, he had toyed with the idea of the pointlessness of the plan and thought of scrapping the whole thing and entering the phone in as evidence with the other items. He had even pulled open his desk drawer to deposit it with the other items and at the last second, decided to hold onto it a little longer.

Steve was using his couch as a bed to rest on. He had his right arm behind his head to prop it up a bit more and make it more comfortable to verbally spar with his partner. He would have used both arms, but his left side was still tender and chose not to stretch that side any more than necessary. Instead, that arm hung off the side of the couch, his hand resting on Eddie's head, mindlessly rubbing behind his ears every now and then.

He would have preferred to be outside, lounging in his beachside chair, but the inclement weather forced them to stay in. Danny was absolutely fine with it though and had taken over the TV, stopping on a baseball game.

To Danny's chagrin though, Steve was determined to monopolize his attention and pull him from the game with 'conversation'. Rachel had been the topic that had been chosen by Steve, getting his amusement from watching Danny try to avoid the subject by maintaining he was trying to pay attention to the game.

When the call came, both of them assumed it was his personal phone. "See," Steve chimed in, "there she is now."

"Would you pleeease give it a rest, would ya?"

Danny pulled out his phone and looked at the black screen then felt the buzz of the other one. He retrieved Chin's phone and held it up for Steve to see. He made eye contact with his partner who seemed to be catching on quickly to Danny's reaction.

Steve winced as he sat up a little too quickly for his injured body. Eddie sat up in reaction as well, sensing a change in the laid back atmosphere. "A wrong number?" he asked, feeling… knowing that was not the case.

Danny now stared at the screen. "It's him," Danny answered somberly.

Steve started to stand up and reached for the phone.

Danny turned his shoulder away from him to prevent the confiscation. He used his free hand to put on Steve's shoulder and easily push him back down. The ease of the chore was probably more akin to him being knocked over with a feather at the astonishment of the call than a physical deficiency.

"I got…" The phone stopped buzzing. He was too late. "… this." He started to hit the redial button, but the phone started again. Relieved, he expelled his breath and looked to Steve.

"Well, watcha waiting for, Mr. 'I-got-this'? Answer the damned thing," Steve snapped.

Taking one more deep breath, he pressed the accept button but didn't speak. Instead he waited. Waited for the one on the other end to make the first move.

"Hello?" He heard Gabriel's voice say. "Chin Ho? You there, brother?"

"Hello, Gabriel."

There was Steve's confirmation. It was Gabriel. Against Danny's obvious objection, Steve managed to stand, eager to be involved in the conversation. He reached again for the phone and Danny swatted at his arm and followed up with wide, protesting eyes and an index finger held in his face.

At the warehouse, Gabriel flinched. Simon saw him as he stepped back on one foot before regaining his stance. "Well, Detective Blondie, wasn't expecting you."

"Where've you been, Waincroft? Thought you'd fallen off the planet."

"I've been around, biding my time. Where's Chin?"

_Put it on speaker,_ Steve mouthed to Danny, to which he received a barely noticeable but very dismissive shake of his head. Steve's hands immediately found a resting spot on his hips.

"He's not here," Danny answered.

"I need to talk to him."

"Talk to me."

"All right, I understand Chin brought my daughter to Oahu and now may be trying to take her back with him."

Danny's eyes narrowed in confusion. _What? Where is he getting this false information?_

Steve mimicked Danny's expression wondering why Danny looked speechless. He noticed Danny's eyes were darting around erratically trying to make sense of, and looking for a response to, whatever Waincroft had just said. His exclusion from the conversation was driving him crazy and he started to sway in his edginess.

Danny's mouth dropped open and his eyes finally met Steve's in realization. He quickly sobered when he figured out Gabriel's bewildering declaration. Knowing his control freak partner had about had it, he decided he would try to clue him in by his response.

"So, you know Sara was here," Danny calmly stated. Steve's head arched forward and an eyebrow went up, not sure if he had heard correctly. Again, he mouthed to Danny, _What?_ Danny's finger came up again, pleading for patience. "Then you also know you're too late. That's why I've got the phone. They left this morning."

"I think you're lying. My guy saw them early afternoon."

"If your guy saw them, then you know they were at the airport."

Steve slowly put together what Danny was talking about. Someone had seen Chin with Joanie and assumed it was Sara. Even though he hated the idea of someone watching his sister and niece, he still calmed a bit as he was, at least, understanding what happened. He folded his arms as he listened and watched, amazed at his competent partner.

"I know you're about as sharp as a cue ball, so let me explain. That means they were flying, in an airplane, off the island." Danny held a hand over the receiver and this time, mouthed to Steve, _call Mary_.

"They're still here and you'd better stop them before they do leave. I'll get off so you can make your calls. I want to hear back in ten minutes, got it?"

Steve was shaking his head that he couldn't reach his sister. _Chin_ , was Danny's next silent suggestion. "Why would we do that, Gabriel? It doesn't make… Gabriel? He's gone," he now spoke to Steve. It was his turn to wait and observe his partner's phone call.

~~~~H50~~~~~

"Buddy, we've heard from Gabriel," Steve said it again when Chin didn't respond. Unlike Danny before, he took the two seconds of silence and pressed the speaker button for Danny to join in.

Chin's facial expression fell from one of pleasant curiosity to serious dread. With it, his voice unintentionally dropped to a whisper. "You've what?"

"You heard me right. First off, are Mary and Joanie still with you or did they make their flight?"

"No, I mean no, they're not with me, but yes they made their flight. I watched them board. Why Steve? What's going on?"

"He thinks you've brought Sara to Oahu and are trying to take her back. One of his men saw you with Joanie and even though she's younger and very blond, somehow he thought it was her."

"He must have seen us when we arrived. She had her rain jacket hood pulled up and he probably just saw it was a little girl and doesn't have a clue about size. No, Steve, really, she's fine and Mary is, too. They're probably half way home by now."

"Gabriel wanted us to try to stop you. He thinks it's not too late. He still thinks he can get her back."

Danny looked at the time on his phone. They had seven more minutes.

"All right. I'll head back. Maybe we can use that."

"That's what I was thinking. Let's let him think we stopped you before you left. We're supposed to call him back in ten." Danny held up seven fingers. "In seven," he corrected.

Danny's personal phone began to buzz. It was Jerry.

"Wait a minute. He left his phone on for you to call him back?" Chin questioned.

"That was the instruct… oh, wait I see what you're getting at," Steve said.

"Would he be that dense to think we wouldn't trace it?"

While he kept Jerry on the line, Danny cut into Steve and Chin's conversation, "Jerry was alerted that the call was made to the phone and the connection was long enough that he was able to trace it to Kalihi-Palama."

"I don't know about dense, but he may have just made a costly mistake," Steve spoke to Chin. "Looks like Jerry's got a general location."

"I told Jerry we're supposed to call him back and the phone is still probably active. He's trying to narrow that down," Danny informed. "We got three minutes."

"So, that's the plan? Make him think Sara's still here?" Chin questioned.

"We're running out of time. I think the possibility has him off his game. Until we think of something better, we're going to go with it."

"Sounds good. I'll call Kono on my way. See you soon." The connection ended with Chin.

"So, you gonna let me do it this time?" Steve asked as he pointed his fingers toward his own chest as he held up his other hand in a shrug.

"What's the matter? Don't think I can handle it?" Danny challenged.

"You did a great job, but I think I want a crack at him."

"He asked _me_ to call him back."

"Daniel."

"Steven… oh, all right. Knock yourself out… you big schmuck." Danny handed over the phone. He needed to coordinate with Jerry anyway to let him know what was going on. "Just take it easy. Don't hurt yourself."

Steve rolled his eyes as he looked at the time. They were one minute past the deadline Gabriel had given for the return call. Steve was just about to call Gabriel back when there was a knock on the door.

"Go ahead. Make your call. I'll get it," Danny goaded. He opened the door to a bashful looking Tani.

"Is it a bad time? I just thought with Mary gone, he may want some company, but I see you've got it under control, so I'll just…"

"Would ya stop it already. Get in here," Danny directed as he held up a finger to his lips. "Just be quiet. We got something going on. I'll fill you in."

Tani saw that Steve had just put the phone up to his ear. "Who's he calling?" she whispered.

"Gabriel," he stated matter-of-factly as he watched his partner. He missed Tani's mouth dropping reaction, but heard the choked cough. He turned back to her with a grin and nodded that she had heard correctly. Now she became part of the captive audience as well, beginning her process of putting pieces together.

"I'll overlook that you're late," Gabriel answered.

"Hello, Gabriel."

"Commander? Is that you? Well now, isn't this a pleasant surprise. I must be pretty special if the head of Five-0 himself is calling. So, how are you doing anyway? Recovering nicely, I see. Did your little sidekick wimp out on you?"

"Cut the chit chat, Waincroft. You know why I'm calling."

"Well, damn, I guess I'll have to save my _sincere_ apologies for almost causing your demise for another time. Maybe we can get together and compare scars. No, I _do_ know why you're calling. And? What kind of interesting information do you have for me?"

"You'll be glad to know we were able to reach Chin."

"They hadn't left?"

Without answering that question, he went on, "He says he'll meet with you."

"I bet he did."

"Where?"

"Is Sara with him? He needs to follow through with his decision."

"She's being looked after and if I have anything to say about it, you'll never get your hands on her."

"Sounds like you don't have anything to say about it or he wouldn't have brought her back in the first place. This is between me and Chin. If you don't believe it, ask him yourself. He gets it. He understands what's at stake. I'll see him when he gets here."

"Gets where? Gabriel?"

"Goodbye, Commander." The call ended.

"What the hell was that? Somebody _please_ tell me what's going on," Tani pleaded.

Danny jumped in, "In a nutshell, Gabriel thinks Chin brought Sara back to hand her over and since he hadn't made contact, he thought Chin was about to leave with her, so he had us call Chin to stop him before they left."

"Before 'they' left? She wasn't here."

"One of his goons saw Chin with my niece when they went to the airport together this morning and thought she was Sara. Now Gabriel believes it, so we're using it against him," Steve added. He suddenly felt a wave of fatigue and slight nausea and sat back down on the couch.

"Hey, you okay?" Danny asked concerned.

"Yeah, just a little tired."

"So, they _didn't_ leave?" Tani asked.

Letting Steve take a break, Danny filled her in a bit more, "Mary and Joanie left. Chin's flight wasn't 'til later so we caught him in time. He's on his way here now."

"And he's supposed to meet Gabriel? How does he know where to go? Sounds like you didn't get that important tidbit of information out of him."

Steve was resting his head in his hands with his elbows propped on his knees. Without looking up, he said, "He knows that we know where he is."

"You know where Gabriel is?" Tani asked.

"We know where Gabriel is?" Danny parroted. "Yes, we know where Gabriel is," he answered his own question. "That's what Jerry was doing. I'll check in with him."

But before Danny could, Steve rubbed his forehead and added, "That's why he didn't tell me. He knew we'd be able to locate the phone. That's why he didn't limit his time and had us call him back. He left a clear trail of bread crumbs."

"Do you think it's a trap?" Tani vocalized her concern.

Danny answered, "He wouldn't have had time. This just came up a few hours ago. He's acting on impulse right now. We need to make a move first. Catch him by surprise."

Steve looked up. "I hope you're not saying what I think you're saying."

"Well, if you think I'm saying that Tani and I should head over now, you're right."

Steve started shaking his head. "Nuh un. Impulse or not, this _could_ be a trap."

"Unlikely," Danny reinforced.

"So, you admit it?"

Danny didn't acknowledge Steve's question and forged on. "Before you say it, I won't be alone. Tani will be my backup. Right, Tani?"

"Uh, yeah, right. Of course," she agreed. "Let's go kick some ass."

"Nope," Steve calmly spoke again, still shaking his head. "We're waiting for Chin. He's calling Kono. We'll get Junior and Adam over here and Jerry and Lou on the phone. Nobody's going anywhere until we've figured this out."

"I love ya, babe. You know I do and I hear you, but you know this is right. This is _exactly_ what you would do. We can't give him any more time to prepare or change his mind. We gotta go now and if _you_ can't be there, I'm sure glad this is who I've got to back me up."

"Ah, shucks," Tani joked as she fluttered her eyelids.

Danny halfway thought he may have gotten through to Steve when he hesitated for a minute and looked to be seriously considering Danny's plan. He was wrong.

"Who says I can't be there? I'm going with you." Steve stood.

"Ooooh, noooo, you're not. Look at you. You've overdone it today. You're as pale as a ghost. You look like you're about to drop as it is."

"I can do this."

"You would be a hindrance. I'm sorry that sounds tough, but you know it. You'd jeopardize the op."

"The _op_?" Steve wrinkled his nose.

"What can I say? You've rubbed off on me. Chin will be here anytime. You need to be here to let the team in on what we're doing. You ready?" he asked Tani who nodded her reply.

"At least wait for Junior or call in a SWAT team to meet you there?" Steve was grasping at straws.

"SWAT will cause too much commotion and we can't waste any more time waiting for the others. Just send them when you can."

Steve followed them to the door, protectively covering his injured side with his opposite hand. With the other hand, he grabbed Danny's shoulder. Danny turned to face him. Tani had already walked out.

"I don't like this, not one bit," Steve admitted.

"I know. I don't either. I'd tell you to save me a beer for when I get back, but you can't drink anyway. We'll celebrate with some OJ or something later. Okay?" He followed Tani out who was already climbing into the passenger seat of the Camaro as Danny was pulling out his phone to call Jerry.

"Danny?!" Steve yelled knowing Danny hadn't heard him. "Be careful," he spoke under his breath.

* * *

_~to be continued~_

\,,,/BronsonL


	19. Chapter 19

The rain had slowed to a drizzle and the late day sun was intent on creating one last rainbow before darkness fell. Gabriel got back to the main warehouse just as Masuda was preparing to leave. He stood by the open door as Gabriel approached.

"Everything looks good. Mitchell says the boat will be in Thursday. That's two days. I'm assuming you'll be able to keep everything secure until it ships out?"

Gabriel was pleased his absence had not been noticed, but not so much relieved because his level of care on the give-a-crap gauge had just dropped to an all-time low. He had found out his daughter was on the island and right now, that was all that mattered. "I don't foresee any problems."

"Excellent. Keep me informed if anything changes in the schedule."

"Yes, sir," Gabriel spoke obligingly.

After Masuda's car had driven away, Gabriel turned to Simon. "We don't have much time. We've got some work to do. We're about to have company."

~~~~~H50~~~~~

The sun had set, but there was still a glow of orange and purple on the horizon as the Camaro did a slow crawl down one of the access roads at the docks. Darkness had brought an end to the workday and had left the area seemingly deserted.

"Looks like if you turn left there," Tani pointed at another road up ahead, "the building will be on the right, about one hundred twenty yards down." She held a tablet that was displaying a map of the vicinity. Jerry had sent the location of the phone and it was pinpointed on the map. Danny pulled to the left and parked on the side of the road.

"Hey, yeah. Right up there… on the left," she directed, wondering if maybe he hadn't heard her the first time.

"We're stopping here."

"All right… Okay, then. Let's go," Tani worked herself to accepting his decision.

They retrieved their rifles from the trunk and checked their ammo. "If we're lucky," Danny said, "it'll be Gabriel and just a handful of his lunkheads."

"And if we're not?"

"If we're not… he'll have his whole freakin' army waiting for us. I'm going to put my money on the former. He hasn't had the time and he seemed off."

"Hope you're right," she mumbled, sincerely hoping his experience and expertise had it right this time.

"The place is too big and has too many access points for us to split up. Our best bet will be to stick together."

"Sure, no problem."

Danny grabbed her shoulder before she could take off. "Hold up there, McGarrettette. I'm going in first. Stay behind me."

"Is that anything like Smurfette? Because she was my favorite. Except I always thought she should be a brunette."

"That's fantastic. Me and my big mouth. Would you just come on?"

Tani straightened up and stood at attention with a big smile beaming in the darkening light.

Danny rolled his eyes and swiped his hand forward. They rounded the corner of the building that concealed their car and covertly made their way down the road.

The air felt thick after the rain. Danny used his sleeve to wipe away the sweat from his brow as they each stood on either side of one of the three rear doors they had found unlocked. After quietly trying them, they found that all the others, besides those three, had been locked. Danny understood that the doors could have been left that way purposefully, but if that had been the case, why not just one?

The door had thankfully not made any noise when it was opened and Danny was a little surprised to see light coming from inside. Again, he tried to get in Gabriel's head. Did he really think that Chin would meet him here and surrender his daughter? He quickly dismissed the thought and led the way in. He immediately took cover behind a container that was about fifteen feet to his left. Tani found one ten feet to her right. There, they were able to see each other and peek around the corner to see about three fourths of the large area inside. The rest was in their blind spot.

At first, they didn't see another soul. Then, a thin older man came into view from the blind area.

A crackling sound followed by Adam's voice could be heard in their earpieces. "Danny, Tani? You read?" Danny and Tani shared a look. They couldn't respond without revealing themselves. "Danny, it's Adam. Junior and I have arrived on scene. Chin, Kono, and SWAT are coming in mute behind us. Danny, do you read? Over."

A door on the far side opened and Gabriel appeared and met the man in the center of the room. Tani knew him right away, even without the put-on charm she had experienced from 'John'. She felt a wave of heat as she felt her anger spike.

In direct contrast to her reaction, Danny had an ice-cold chill roll down his back. The stuffy warehouse felt like an oven, so he wasn't quite sure why he was having this sensation of cold. His reasoning was fighting his emotions for control. This wasn't right. He got it now. He had been wrong. _Abort_.

~~~~~H50~~~~~

"Shots were fired. SWAT's gone in. I don't know. It's still active. We don't really have anything else."

"Jer… Jerry stop. Put Lou on. Let me talk to him," Steve was in a panic. He was still at home, pacing his floor. Ever since the rest of his team had left, he couldn't be still, gunshot injuries or no, exhaustion be damned.

"Hey, McGarrett. Yeah, it's like the man said. We don't know much. We got word from Junior they had arrived first and then Chin and Kono and then SWAT. Shots started soon after that. We're waiting to hear." Lou was deliberately leaving out information. He knew it was coming. He'd have to address it, but he put it off as long as possible.

"Lou! What about Danny and Tani? Have you heard from them? Does anyone have eyes on them?"

Lou heard the panic in his voice and he tried to pacify him while still being honest with him. "Not yet, but listen," he threw in quickly as he heard the 'damn it' fly on the other end, "that's not unusual. In these situations, sometimes the operatives have to keep radio silence to avoid detection and that's what they were doing, going in with hopes of being undetected. So, it just makes sense…"

"Save it, Lou, all right? Remember who you're talking to."

At that, Lou did feel a little bit dumb. He had been talking to a Navy SEAL as if he were teaching Will the finer points of shaving. "You're right, man, I just thought…"

"I know. It's okay. I'm sorry. I'm just a little wound up over here." His voice had lowered.

"Hey, I know you're probably running on adrenaline and Danny will kill me, but how'd you like it if I sent a uniform over to bring you here? Do you think you're up for it?"

"Lou, that's the best suggestion I've heard all evening. Lights and sirens, get 'em here fast."

"Copy that. They'll be there before you can say deep-dish-delight and I promise, I'll let you know as soon as I know _anything_."

"Thanks, man. I appreciate it."

Steve was bouncing on the balls of his feet as he waited out front for his ride. His jitteriness was probably a combination of nerves and the lack of the dulled senses he usually got from his pain meds. He had taken all of his prescribed medicines that evening _except_ the ones for pain. He needed to be alert and in his right mind until this was all over and he could finally go to bed knowing his ohana was safe and sound… and Gabriel was behind bars.

The second-year officer had followed orders and had arrived in the cruiser with lights on and sirens blaring.

The officer didn't even have time to get out of his car, as Steve was already getting in on the passenger side.

"Commander, I would have helped you."

"I'm fine, Officer…?"

"Petty. You know like Richard, The King. Are you a NASCAR fan?"

"Well, no, I…"

"I know some of the guys in the academy tried to be cute and pin me with Tom or Heartbreaker, but I'd take racin' over singin' any day. There's just something about the sound those machines make when they speed by the mics on the side of the track. I've been a fan of racing since, well, since as long as I can remember."

"Speaking of racing, can you step on it?" Even though the air was on, Steve cracked his window. He needed some air… and a muffler for the sound. He needed to introduce this loquacious young man to his partner. He'd love to see which one would get the best of the other.

"Sure, plus The King's from North Carolina and I'm from South. We're not related though. At least not that I know of. There might be a distant connection somewhere. I need to call my pop. He'd probably know." He put on his turning signal.

"We're not going that way."

"Iolani Palace is right down that road."

"Keep going straight. We're headed to the docks."

"But, sir, my orders were to…"

"Your orders have been revised. Get me to the port at Kalihi-Palama."

"Yes, sir, commander, sir." He turned off his signal and continued toward the boat docks. Oddly, the ride thereafter was much quieter.

* * *

_**A/N:** All right. What's happened to Danny and McGarrettette?_

_~to be continued~_

\,,,/BronsonL


	20. Chapter 20

The black and white turned off the siren a block away but still had its lights on when it pulled up to the scene. The vehicle virtually became invisible, blending in with all the other Honolulu police cruisers already there. Steve’s apprehension grew when he saw the ambulances that stood out amongst the emergency vehicles with their red lights flashing in the dark. He grabbed at the pain in his side that he had forgotten about until he tried to jump out of the car too rapidly. Pushing through a sea of blue, he mechanically apologized as he disrupted the work of the first responders. His eyes were scanning the crowd.

Lou had tried three times to reach him, but he chose to ignore his call because he’d either have to deal with his scolding or let him know what he was about to find out by being there in person.

A wave of relief fell on him as he finally found one he’d been searching out. “Kono! Excuse me,” he apologized as he bumped against someone. “Kono!”

Kono turned at the sound of her name being called. She excused herself from the officer to whom she had been providing information.

“Steve? What are you doing here? You need to be home.”

“Not now, Kono, tell me what went down here? Did we get Gabriel? Where’s the rest of the team?”

Kono sighed in resignation, knowing it would do no good trying to talk him into leaving now. “They’re still checking the bodies, but to my knowledge they didn’t get him. As to what happened? I’m not quite sure. Upon approach, we were fired upon. We fired back and then all hell broke loose.”

“The team? Where’s everybody?”

“Inside.” She gestured toward the warehouse. “Still checking the scene. Trying to find Gabriel.”

“So, everyone’s accounted for?”

She knew what he was getting at. She didn’t want to be the one to tell him. She was thankful when she saw her cousin making his way through the crowd toward them.

“Steve…”

“Don’t… just don’t.” He held up both hands in a stop gesture. “Kono was just about to report on the team. Where is everyone?”

Chin glanced at Kono. “Well it appears as though Gabriel was a little more ready for us than we expected.”

Steve threw his arms up in exasperation, willing him to get to the answer to his question. “Danny and Tani are unaccounted for.”

Steve’s arms dropped to his sides, suddenly unable to summon the strength to hold them up. His breath was taken away like the first drop of a roller coaster. “Damn it.” _He knew it. He knew something like this was going to happen. He cursed himself for going along. He knew he was not one hundred percent physically, but he could have done something._ When his breath came back to him, it was faster and more difficult to control.

Kono stood by with a worried expression as Chin continued, “Adam and Junior are still in there trying to find something, but so far, there’s no sign of them.”

“When’s the last time you heard from them?” Steve was grasping at straws.

“They reported in when they arrived at the site, but we had no radio contact after they breeched.”

“Have they secured the warehouse? I’m going in.”

Chin put his hand on Steve’s chest when he tried to approach the scene. “I’d wait ‘til they’ve given the ‘all clear’. Shouldn’t be long.”

Adam walked up to the group, followed several steps behind by a dejected looking Junior, his rifle hanging by its strap down by his side. Adam gave Steve a curious look but knew him well enough to not bother to ask why he was there. He held something in his hand. He looked at Chin and Kono and shook his head, answering their unasked question. Then, assuming they had caught Steve up on what they knew, he began with what he had just found out.

“Gabriel’s MIA. He was not one of those taken into custody nor one of those pronounced at the scene. And… we found these.” He opened his hand to reveal the two earpieces that Danny and Tani would have been wearing.

Junior had caught up to them at that point and needed to rationalize their finding. “That doesn’t mean anything. They probably witnessed Gabriel’s escape and pursued him. We need to find them and give them support. Those… those could have just fallen out.”

“Both of them?” Steve franticly erupted.

“Well, maybe it was on purpose,” he defended.

“Why? Why would they both ditch their coms?!” Steve raised his voice even more in response to the absurdity of the statement.

“Steve, let’s stay calm and think this through,” Chin stepped in. “Junior’s right. There may be a reasonable explanation. It’s too soon and we don’t have enough information to come to a conclusion that may turn out to be false.”

“What about their phones?” Steve breathed through his anger and lowered his voice.

“They were found in the car, like protocol for this type of operation,” Kono answered.

Steve started nervously nodding his head as he thought. “How the hell did Gabriel make it out?”

“They’re still working on that, but it’s like he just disappeared,” Chin said.

“Yeah, disappeared with my people. What about the damned phone? It brought us here. Can you trace its current location?”

“Tried. It’s undetectable, maybe powered off,” Adam answered.

Steve put his hands on his hips and turned away from the group for a few seconds as he put together his next thoughts. He spun back around with his next idea. “You say they brought some of Gabriel’s men into custody?”

“There were at least a couple that made it,” Adam confirmed.

“Rendition. I want at ‘em first.”

“We can handle this,” Chin pleaded. “Please, you shouldn’t be here.”

“Lieutenant Kelly’s right, sir. I can do it.” Junior was incensed and needed answers as badly as Steve. “I’ve primaried interrogations before.”

Steve nodded. “You, come with me. You got a vehicle?” He wasn’t going to back off, but when he saw Junior’s determination, he at least agreed to his company.

“Yes, sir.”

“Steve, I…” Chin tried again.

He looked at Chin and then Kono and Adam. “Stay here.” His eyes begging them to understand and fill in for him since he couldn’t be in two places at once. “Let me know anything you find.”

They could feel Steve’s distress radiating off of him. Adam spoke up first, “Steve, Kono and I can stay here and manage things. Let Chin go with you. The last thing we need are dead or incapacitated witnesses that can’t help. The way you two are keyed up, that’s what we may end up with,” he pleaded his case.

Chin waited for Steve’s answer, agreeing with Adam’s assessment. After a few seconds, Steve agreed. “All right.” Then looking between Adam and Kono and pointing at Adam, he reinforced, “Anything.”

“You’ll know immediately.”

One of Junior’s legs was bouncing in anticipation. “You ready?” Steve asked of him.

“Yes, sir.”

“Chin?”

Chin nodded.

“Then let’s go.”

~~~~~H50~~~~~

“Danny? Danny, wake up. Are you all right? Can you hear me?”

 _Tani_. He could hear Tani’s voice. It sounded like he was waking from one of those hazy, paralyzing dreams and he still couldn’t wrap his brain around where he was and why Tani would be there if he was sleeping.

He slowly managed to open his eyes and went to stretch, but he couldn’t. His arms were pinned behind him. His heartrate immediately accelerated and his sluggish waking became instantaneous, prompting an abrupt jolt of his body.

“Hey, take it easy. You’re hurt.”

She had not needed to inform him of that. He felt it as soon as he heard her words. He wasn’t able to speak yet. His mind was still catching up.

“Oh, thank God. I was worried about you. Are you okay?” she asked again.

“Yeah, yeah, where are we?”

“Your guess is as good as mine. Some creepy, disgusting place is all I know.”

“You okay?”

“I’m good, just hunky dory.” She settled back from her kneeling vigil to sitting with her back against the wall.

Danny ignored her familiar sounding sarcasm, knowing the last part was referring to their current situation, not her physical well-being. He struggled with his bonds and found them to be tight.

“Don’t bother,” Tani suggested. “They used our zip ties.”

“Yours are tight, too?”

“Oh, yeah. Believe me, I tried.”

“What happened?” he growled out as he pulled himself from lying on the hard, concrete floor to a sitting position.

“You don’t remember?”

“Nah, I… you’re gonna have to help me out,” he said as he looked around at the room they were in. She was right. It _was_ creepy and disgusting. It had the feel of the basement rendition room except larger and dirtier. The only door was dark, discolored metal with extruded rectangular moldings at the top and bottom. Each rectangle formed a border around the same extruded “X”s in the center of them, intimating their own warning.

The floor was streaked with what appeared to be mud and other stains, he didn’t want to know what from, that ran toward a common point in the middle of the room… a drain. Just like Five-0’s very own interrogation room, they were blessed to be in the company of a similar, formidable drain. The cinder block walls were either wet, or covered in mold, or a combination of both. The only light above them was a harsh, unnatural fluorescent bulb. The other bulb beside it was glowing a shaded, tan color that didn’t illuminate all the way but teased at trying with an almost indiscernible rapid flickering. The whole fixture was enclosed in an ironic wire cage housing.

Danny’s lack of memory caused Tani’s worry to resurge. “What’s the last thing you _do_ remember?”

“Uhm, let’s see. Gabriel. We were in the warehouse and Gabriel came through the door.”

Tani’s cheeks ballooned out and then she released the air slowly, relieved to hear he remembered that much. “Yes, aaand…?”

“And… was it cold?”

“What? No. Don’t you remember anything else?”

“Sorry, everything’s a bit fuzzy.”

“That’s ‘cause they wonked you on the head. You went out like a light.”

Danny scrunched his eyes tightly closed and shook his head. “What happened?”

“They were expecting us. We were distracted by Gabriel. His thugs came up behind us. There were four of ‘em. We didn’t know they were there until we heard the hammer pull back on one of their pistols. You turned and saw one of the gorillas holding a gun on me.”

Danny’s face relaxed from the strain of trying to remember when it came back to him. “Oh, yeah. I remember that now. I think we were both thinking of trying something, but I couldn’t chance it. I surrendered my gun and gave up.”

“And I did the same.”

“I don’t remember anything after that.”

“Well, like I said, even though you gave up, one of the quartet hit you from behind with his piece. You were out. They tied us up, put a hood over my head, and voila.”

“But, how did we get here?”

“There was a trap door in floor that must have jutted over water because we went directly into some kind of small boat, we were there for maybe twenty, thirty minutes and then up onto a pier, into a van, truck, I don’t know, and another thirty minutes or so later, here we are. They must have carried you. You were already laying there when they took the hood off me.”

“Lovely.”

“Sorry. That’s about as good as I could do being blinded and all.”

“Wait. We got the transmission from Adam. The team was there.”

“Yep. I heard gunfire being exchanged as we left in the boat.”

“Great. Not knowing how that worked out and if everyone is…”

“…all right. I know. I’ve been sitting here thinking the same thing. At least they know something happened to us. They’ll be looking.”

“ _We’ve_ been looking for Gabriel for weeks. What makes you think they’ll have any better luck now?”

“They have a location and probably got some of Gabriel’s guys.”

“By the way, have you seen Gabriel since the warehouse?”

“Haven’t seen or heard from him.”

“Maybe if we’re lucky the son of a bitch didn’t make it.”

Neither believed it or they probably would be dead instead of here, but it needed to be said. “Maybe,” Tani agreed. “Maybe.”

They both turned their heads at the same time when they heard a loud clang from the old metal of the door. Someone was unlocking it. They were about to officially meet their captors.

* * *

_~to be continued~_

\,,,/BronsonL


	21. Chapter 21

Two men entered the room. Even though Danny and Tani both attempted to stand, they were helped along with one man grabbing one of Tani's arms and pulling her up and the other fisting a handful of Danny's shirt and lifting him the rest of the way. They were pushed roughly against the wall. Danny's attendant remained steadfast with his hand against his chest to ensure he didn't move. Tani's took a step back but remained close by in case needed.

"Well, boys, this has been entertaining and all, but I think we're about tuckered out and need to call it a night." Tani looked toward the still open door and took a step, testing her limits. Like she expected, a hand pushed her shoulder back against the wall. Likewise, Danny could feel increased pressure on him, as if to ward off a similar attempt.

"Nobody's leaving," the one holding Tani declared.

"Wouldn't dream of it," Danny mumbled.

"So, what are we waiting for?" Tani asked.

"Boss will be here in a minute, sweet cheeks." Danny's henchman answered and let his eyes linger on Tani. The smallest of grins displayed on one side of his mouth. "Don't get your pretty little panties in a wad."

Danny's body involuntarily pushed against the hold in reaction to his disrespectful comments.

"Shut up, Ron," the other guard spit out.

"Yeah, shut up, Ron," Danny followed up.

Ron's smile grew as he now gave Danny all of his attention. Having seen his reaction, he decided to twist the knife. "You know, I actually don't know how pretty her panties are. Maybe me and the lady can get some privacy later and find out."

That was it. That's all it took. With his hands bound behind him, he again stepped into Ron's hold to get as close as possible and brought his knee hard and fast into the man's groin. Ron cried out in agony as he released Danny and doubled over in pain.

"Danny! No!" He heard Tani call out as he took advantage of the low position of Ron's head to kick him directly in the nose which sent him flying against the back wall.

"Ah, hell no!" the other guard asserted, not knowing whether to leave Tani unattended to help his comrade or to let them fight it out. His attention alternated between the action going on behind him and the one he was responsible for guarding. He couldn't allow her to jump into the fray, so he stood his ground. He knew Ron would have the advantage if he could just shake off the initial attack.

The kick to the face had made Ron angrier. His adrenaline kicked in to match Danny's. Out of necessity, Ron recovered from the blow to the head as quickly as possible and scrambled to his feet. He had been injured and his agility hampered, however, Danny was two limbs short in this fight and Ron had every intention of making him pay for the damage and the humiliation. His face contorted from the rage and like a bull before the charge, he hesitated as he sized up his target. Danny saw it and knew he had to be on the offensive. He ran toward the man in hopes of making contact that could send Ron's head into the concrete wall.

Ron's body moved at the last second and he didn't hit his target as intended. He was off his mark but still had the momentum from the charge. Instead of the full force impact into the center of his gut he was hoping for, they both rammed into the concrete wall with a stunning blow.

Ron was able to recover some of the air that had been knocked out of him faster than Danny, possibly due to the lingering aftereffects of the debilitating blow to Danny's head a couple of hours earlier. He took advantage of Danny's defenselessness and exhausted his anger into the pummeling he gave him.

"Stop!" Tani yelled to Danny's attacker. "Do something," she then appealed to the other man who was now physically holding her back in her struggle to get to Danny. She didn't know what she was going to do if she broke free, but she had to do something. When the man holding her didn't budge, she continued in her verbal plea, "Stop it! … Danny!"

"Well, well, well, what did I just walk into?" Gabriel came through the door followed by another man.

His appearance wasn't unexpected. "Do something!" Tani shouted at Gabriel as she continued to struggle.

"Must've done something to deserve it," he said flatly as he just watched with his hands in his pockets.

"Stop!" Tani yelled again at the man punching Danny since his boss was obviously not going to do anything about it.

Gabriel let the man get in a few more hits and then he shook his head and calmly said, "That's enough."

Ron stopped with a bloodied fist in the air. He was breathing heavily and lowered his arm slowly but waited several seconds to compose himself further before he finally stood.

"Danny?" Tani breathed out, relieved for the reprieve.

"'m okay," Danny was able to mumble as he lay on the ground.

"What the hell?" She coldly demanded of Gabriel.

Gabriel sought out Ron's attention and flicked his head toward Danny. Ron acted immediately and grabbed Danny by one of his arms and hauled him up to standing and moved him back over to the same wall beside Tani. Danny's lip was now split open and bleeding down his chin. His left eye was already puffy and swelling fast. He was slightly bent over to the side and was utilizing the wall behind him to lean on.

"Well?" she continued.

"It's good to see you again, too, Miss... Rey," he snarked. "Or can I call you Tani? You can call me Mr. Waincroft or Gabriel or even John if you like."

"How 'bout I call you asshole."

"Now, that's not very nice."

"Kinda difficult to be nice when you're kidnapped, tied up, thrown into a… " She scrutinized the room. "... a whatever the hell this place is, and then get beaten while you're defenseless."

"I'd never let anybody hit you. I still have a soft spot for the ladies."

"You know what I mean."

"Bullshit," Danny mumbled from his injured mouth.

"What?" Gabriel had heard but wanted to hear his gall again.

"You heard me. I call bullshit. You don't care. Man or woman, dudn't matter. 'member what you did to Kono?"

"Oh, yeah. That. Good memory, Detective. That was an unusual but necessary exception."

Danny giggled. "Exception, huh? Then, I tell you what. Why don't you be Mr. Chivalrous and let Tani go? I can imagine why we're here and you don't need both of us."

"What?" Tani exclaimed and started shaking her head. "Hell, no. I ain't going anywhere without you."

Gabriel stepped closer to Tani and looked her right in the eyes. Her guard backed up to give him room. "Don't worry, love. He knows very well he's not calling the shots and neither of you are going anywhere."

A nauseating flutter roiled in Tani's stomach. The room was already warm enough, but an internal burn that felt like a fever started to work its way to the surface. It was slow at first, but the wave gained strength. "That day in the hospital, that day we first met… You know what? That's too nice. The day you finagled our meeting so you could use me, you told me you had been married once. Remember? If you really were married, I sure do feel sorry for her."

Gabriel bristled.

"That she had to put up with the likes of you."

"Tani," Danny warned under his breath.

"What woman would want to be with a low life scum like you?"

Gabriel stepped close to Tani and hooked her chin in the grasp of his hand. "That's enough." He squeezed until her face contorted in his grip.

"What's the matter? Can't stand to hear the truth," Tani pushed out. One by one, each release felt good. She felt as though she was taking back some of what had been taken from her. "Is this how it was with you? Was she forced into the relationship?"

"Shut up," he growled.

"Tani, don't," Danny tried again.

"Bet she loved it when work called you away. Bet she took advantage. Maybe stepped out?"

Gabriel's hand that had been holding Tani's face was pulled back into a fist ready to make contact with her stomach. Tani braced, but smiled at the same time. She felt she had won in his weakness.

"Gabriel!"

Hearing Danny call his name and remembering their words moments earlier, he calmed and let the tension fall from his arm. Then, in an instant, he reengaged and released his pent-up energy into a punch to the side of Danny's face. He started to fall but was held up by Ron who revealed his amusement of his boss's action. "How's that for chivalry?" he taunted.

"Asshole!" Tani screamed out.

Then, Gabriel reared back and hit him one more time for good measure. Danny slumped to a point that Ron didn't want to try to hold his dead weight up any longer. He let him slide down the wall to the floor. Fresh blood flowed from the lacerations on his face.

"Emilio, you still got that length of rope?" Ron asked Tani's guard.

Emilio started to shake his head when the other man that came in with Gabriel piped up. "Here." He pulled some heavy corded jute from his rear pocket and tossed it to Ron.

Ron began to use the rope to tie Danny's ankles. "Won't be kicking anymore now, will ya?" he provoked, still miffed at his attack.

"Just your ass… as soon as I get the chance," Danny grumbled.

Ron smiled and pulled the tension on the last knot one more time to make sure it was as tight as he could get it. "Whenever you're ready," Ron replied and stood. He received a satisfying grunt from Danny when he gave a swift kick of his own into his side.

Gabriel backed toward the door and snapped a wide angle shot of both of his prisoners. "That's on you," he addressed Tani as he arched his eyebrow and tipped his head toward Danny. Before leaving, he took a few seconds studying each of his men, one at a time, looking them up and down. Speaking directly to Emilio, he said, "You'll do," and he exited the room. His three goons followed. The door clanged shut.

"Shit, Danny, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I just couldn't help it. It just spewed out. Are you all right?"

Exhausted, spent, sore as all-get-out, crushed, and dispirited, he opted for a simple nod as he opened and closed his mouth to manipulate his aching jaw to see if he could make it work with some semblance of normalcy again.

Tani looked toward the closed door. "They'll be here soon," she talked herself into her own assertion. "You'll see."

Danny knew who she was referring to and knew she was convincing herself, not him.

"They're on this," she continued. "We won't be here much longer."

* * *

_~to be continued~_   
  


**A/N:** Whumperflies? Let me know what you think. 

\,,,/BronsonL


	22. Chapter 22

Junior's face looked like a young boy whose best friend had just moved away when he met Chin and Steve in the basement corridor. Chin was behind Steve with his hand hooked over Steve's shoulder as if ushering him out of the room. Junior looked past the pair into the interrogation room to see one of Gabriel's men sitting in the lone chair with a sneer on his face and blood running from his nose. Steve shook his right hand in the air twice before beginning the process of rubbing the ache out of it with the other hand. The door slammed closed behind them as they stopped to speak with Junior.

"What happened in there?" Junior questioned even though he knew full well what had transpired.

"Nothing," Chin answered. "The man clammed up. We just needed to come out here for a little break. Right, Steve?"

"Yeah, right," he quickly dismissed. "So, did you have any luck?"

Junior pursed his lips and gave a quick shake of his head. "My guy's scared. He says he has a family, a wife and twin toddler boys. He's willing to go away for a long time in lieu of putting them in danger. I… I couldn't push him anymore."

Steve breathed in and then exhaled slowly as he considered the stark contrast of behavior from the two detained henchmen. "Okay. Okay. Let me try."

"Steve, I don't know if that's a good idea right now. You should probably take some time…" Chin tried to reason with Steve but was interrupted.

"We don't have time, Chin! Danny and Tani… " The comeback was snapped in irritation, but Chin still heard the worried catch in his voice. Steve looked away and released a long, shaky breath. The day, and now evening, had been long. It seemed like days since he and Danny had been watching the baseball game. He yearned for the casual, laid-back afternoon with his best friend.

If he were given the opportunity, he would have handled everything differently. He wouldn't have let Danny and Tani go off on their own. He would have insisted they wait for support from the rest of the team and knowing what he knew now, he would have gone with them, physical infirmities be damned. _Damn you, Gabriel Waincroft._ He turned back and sought out Chin's eyes and continued. "I'm okay. I'm good. I can do this. What's his name?"

"James Okala," Junior answered.

Chin's lips narrowed in a forced smile and he nodded his unrequired consent. "We'll go with you."

"Okay."

Junior was curious how his boss intended to get information from the man, that he had failed to do, without his fallback to brute force. He followed Chin who entered after Steve. He and Chin stood against the wall as Steve approached the man in the chair.

"Look, I already told the other one. I don't have any information to share." The man seemed tired and annoyed that he was going to have to go through this rigamarole again.

Steve stood before the man a few seconds before he spoke. "My name is Steve." He purposefully omitted his title and last name to diminish the ostentation they may carry with them. "I'm in charge here." He then removed his phone from his back pocket and gingerly squatted down in front of him to be closer to eye level.

The man noticed the faint wince from the change in position. Steve had aggravated his injuries in the last room, which he now regretted. If the punch to the uncooperative man had delivered any substance, it would have been well worth it.

"James. That's your name, right? James, we need information on a location for Gabriel Waincroft and we think you can supply that."

"Again," he huffed out his frustration, "I can't help you. Are you people obtuse? It's like I told your other guy. You're on your own."

"Officer Reigns has apprised me of your conversation. He told me about your family."

James didn't speak. He just bored a hole into Junior with his eyes as he admonished himself for his lack of restraint. Steve continued, "Look, I respect you for wanting to protect your family. I do. Who I _don't_ respect, though, is your boss." James's head fell, but Steve kept speaking. "I know first-hand what he's capable of…"

"You're the one." James lifted his eyes to meet Steve's for an instant and then looked back down. "You're the one he shot."

"That's right and he's done a hell of a lot worse and you're right to be worried about what he may do, but let me tell you this. _We_ can keep you _and_ your family safe. We have the backing of the state of Hawaii and the governor herself. The whole Honolulu police department is at our disposal. Whatever we need. Gabriel Waincroft may be strong, but we're stronger."

James continued to stare at the floor as he started to shake his head, still not believing or not willing to accept what he was being told. "Not from what I can see."

Steve opened the display on his phone and thumbed through a few screens. "Lemme show you something," he said as he continued to look through the phone. When he found what he was looking for, he forced his phone into James's line of vision. "See this. This is Charlie. He's seven. Cute kid, huh? His daddy works for Five-0. He's my partner, Detective Danny Williams. And see here, this is Danny's daughter." He had thumbed over to a smiling, worry-free picture of Grace. "Those kids are his world and you know what? He's not with us now. You want to know why? Oh, wait. You already know why. He and another one of my team were taken today."

Steve glanced back at Chin and held out his hand while wiggling his fingers. He kept his arm outstretched behind him as he turned back to James. Chin laid another phone in Steve's hand and he opened the text message they had received right before his other interrogation.

He held up the snapshot of Danny and Tani so James could see. James instinctively turned away. "Look." When he didn't obey, Steve lost the cool he had intended to maintain. "Look! Grace and Charlie's daddy is not coming home tonight because of _your_ boss." James tentatively looked at the picture. Steve glanced at it again before he put it up. The image broke his heart all over again to see his ohana restrained and the damage that had been unleashed on Danny. "You have information we need. I know you do." Steve's tone softened again. "And I know you can help us."

"Just give him what he wants… whatever he's asking for," James pleaded. "He'll let your people go."

"First off, you know good and well he's not going to let them go. And secondly, it's impossible to give him what he wants. He wants a little girl, a little girl he remembers as his daughter."

Chin clinched his jaw at Steve's mention of Sara.

"She's not even on the island," Steve continued. "She's got a new family now and is safe and happy. It's just not an option. So, you see our quandary? Can you help us, James? Can you help us bring Detective Williams and Officer Rey home?"

"I feel for them, but his kids are safe. Mine are not. The governor and state of Hawaii can't protect my family."

Steve pushed himself up to standing and handed the phone back to Chin. He couldn't dispute the man's reasoning, but he could try to make him understand the lengths they would go to just to get their family members back safely. "Maybe not, but we're ohana." He gestured his arm in a circle pattern inclusively to Chin and Junior. "…and we're pissed off. _Nobody_ messes with _our_ family and gets away with it. I can _personally_ assure you that we will use all of our resources to protect _your_ family. I give you my solemn promise."

James looked behind Steve and saw the consensus, followed by cold determination, on the faces of Junior and Chin. Then he locked eyes with Steve. He saw something in his opponent's eyes, an unwavering tenacity, an uncompromising resolve. He knew that what this man was speaking was the purest form of truth. "Okay," he murmured quietly, still feeling uneasy about his decision.

"What?" Steve asked.

"Okay," James repeated more resolutely. "I'll tell you what you want."

Steve let out some of his restlessness in a long, exhaled breath.

"You know, I didn't like this from the get-go. I just couldn't let my family go hungry. I felt like I didn't have a choice."

"You, giving us what we need is the right choice, right now." Steve poked the air downward toward the ground to emphasize his point. "I'll get one of my guys to personally accompany a police detail to take your family into protective custody. Your family will remain protected until this is seen through to the end. You have my word. Now… you need to tell me where my people are."

"Steve," Chin spoke up. Steve looked back to see Chin holding the phone out to him again. "It's a text from Gabriel. He wants to set up a trade."

"A trade?" Junior jumped in. "We… we don't have anything to trade."

"Hold on." Steve raised a hand up to Junior to calm him down. "He thinks we do. He thinks Sara was here and never left. We have to use that. Chin, if we accept too readily, he'll get suspicious and we may lose our opportunity. Do you think you can make him believe you'd be willing to give her up?"

"After the little talk we had at the school, I think I can. He's not in his right mind. I think I can appeal to his own contrived, distorted reasoning. I'll make him think I've thought long and hard about what he had to say about Malia's wishes and that a child should be with their parent."

"He won't believe the rest of us feel the same," Steve reasoned.

"I'll tell him I'm going behind your back, that you're totally against this. If he believes it, he may not expect the reception."

Steve handed the phone back to Chin. "Here you go. Sell it."

"Hey!" Okala shouted. "What about our deal?"

"You haven't given us anything yet." Steve let him sit a few seconds and sweat it out. "We'll follow through. I still want your intel, just in case. Your family will have our protection."

* * *

_~to be continued~_

\,,,/BronsonL

 **A/N:** Anyone catch my little "real life" reference?


	23. Chapter 23

"Sir, please, I can't sit this one out," Junior beseeched.

The team had gathered in the bullpen area upstairs at the palace after getting the last text from Gabriel. Steve had casually selected Junior to be the Five-0 emissary as fulfillment of his promise to James Okala to protect his family. Because of their history, it was a foregone conclusion that Adam and Kono would accompany Steve at Chin's meeting with Gabriel. With Lou incapacitated, that only left Junior to act as escort.

"Junior, look, I'm sorry, but I need you for this part of the operation. I promised."

"But, we're not even using the intel he gave us!" Junior's frustration was rising and he let his tone do the same.

"I still gave my word that Five-0 would look out for his wife and kids, and that's what we're going to do. End of story."

"Steve, you should not be coming with us anyway. Maybe _you_ could head up the detail." Kono tried without confidence.

"We are not doing this again. I'm coming with you," Steve spat back, sick of the unreasonable concern.

Junior felt like he could jump out of his skin. "Sir, it's Tani. I mean, it's…"

"I'll go," Jerry chimed in.

"Jerry?"

"I'll go. I'll do it. I can be Five-0's representative to fulfill your promise. I've been practicing at the range and I'll be with a very qualified HPD detail. Lou can handle the communications from here and let's face it, you need every one you can get."

"That's not a bad idea," Lou advised. "I would go, but I'd be a little slow and awkward on these things." He lifted one of his crutches to make his point. "Like Jerry said, I can take care of things here."

Steve's eyes drifted from side to side as he mulled over the proposal. "All right," he finally concluded, his decision hastened by their limited time. "But no gun. Leave that to HPD."

"Yeah?" Junior almost squeaked as he needed to hear it again.

"Yeah, all right," Steve was more convincing this time.

"Yes, sir," Jerry said as his hesitance morphed into an unexpected infusion of confidence. "I'll make you proud."

"I know you will," Steve assured as he laid his hand on his arm. "Thank you, Jerry."

The younger members dispersed to prepare. Steve and Lou were the only ones left. "Good call," Lou commented. "That was the right thing to do, you know."

Having the approval of the experienced veteran helped to quell his unease. He nodded at his mentor and confidant, thankful for the support.

"I wish I could go with you," he added.

"I know," Steve said, "but in this case, with Jerry gone, you're gonna be right where we need you."

"Go bring 'em home."

"We will," Steve pledged. "We will."

~~~~~H50~~~~~

Steve knew why Gabriel had selected the meeting point. It was logistically an ideal spot. He probably would have chosen the same. It was readily accessible by air, water, and land. The rarely used airfield in Kalaeloa allowed passage of small planes or helicopters. Its outskirts were weakly protected by a bordering chain link fence. A large nearby drainage canal emptied into the ocean for fast access to or from water, and entry to the H1 was less than a mile away. There were paved and unpaved roads crisscrossing the area with plenty of concealing scrub forestry, not to mention the hundreds of buildings, large and small, at the industrial park on the other side of the canal from the meeting place. There was no way to know by which means he would arrive, nor what exit strategy he would choose.

When they arrived, two vehicles were already there, angled toward each other at one end of an unused runway. Chin's car crawled to a stop about a hundred feet in front of them. He took a full two minutes before he stepped out of his vehicle and went to the front of his car. He could see headlights from a fourth car approaching. It stopped in the middle of the other two. The latest arrival prompted the other cars to turn on their lights to aid in illuminating the area, while making it more difficult for Chin to see inside the vehicles.

"Chin, can you see anything?" came Steve's voice in his earpiece.

"Negative," he tilted his head down and responded with minimal movement of his lips.

"Our new arrival looks like the Audi, but it's too dark behind the lights to see," Kono expanded on Chin's answer from her place in the back seat of his car after hearing the same transmission.

"We don't have the angle yet for the NVGs. Stand by." A few seconds went by before Steve added, "We're going to readjust our position. We'll keep you posted." Steve, Junior, and Adam had moved into the vicinity on foot after being dropped almost a kilometer out. They now took cover behind a couple of the many cloned container storage buildings at the edge of the airstrip.

"Better make it fast boss," Kono advised. "They're getting out of their cars."

She had seen someone get out of the passenger side of the center car and walk toward Chin. Moving shadows indicated the drivers of the other two cars got out as well but remained near their vehicles.

"It's him. Again, confirming, Gabriel is here," she said. Even though it seemed impossible to be any more wired than they already were, everyone tensed up a little more at the acknowledgement.

"Any sign of Danny and Tani?" Steve asked through the communication device.

"Not yet," she informed.

"Wait. I see," she and Chin heard Junior say. "I see two figures in the back seat."

"He's right, Steve," Adam added. "I see them, too."

"All right, everyone, stay alert," Steve ordered.

"Sir, I count four hostiles," Junior informed.

"They're outnumbered four to five. I like it," Kono assessed.

~~~~~H50~~~~

Gabriel looked inquisitively at the car behind Chin. "Is she here?" he eagerly asked.

"She's asleep." Chin tossed his head in the direction of his car. "Kono's with her."

"Kono, huh? Where's the lovely Inspector Dunn, or should I say Kelly?"

"Back at the hotel," Chin drew on his planned response. "She wants nothing to do with this."

Gabriel tilted his head to the side as his brow furrowed. "I thought you were staying at your cousin's house," he challenged.

Surprised that Abby's location caught his attention instead of her supposed reluctance to be present, Chin had to think quickly. "Her house is small. Got a little too crowded. Where are Officer Rey and Detective Williams?" he deflected.

~~~~~H50~~~~~

Like Junior, Steve had found an angle where he was able to see the meeting with the night vision goggles. He, too, had seen the figures in the back seat of the car and when he heard Chin ask the question, he held his breath. As his answer, he saw Gabriel turn and gesture to the men from the bordering cars. Each opened a rear door of Gabriel's car and helped the two individuals out. Both had their hands pulled behind them and both were wearing black hoods that completely covered their heads.

"It's them," Steve heard Junior breathe out in eager anticipation.

Steve found his breath with his relief at seeing his people. "Hold your position," he whispered, feeling like he needed to ground Junior before he acted on impulse. One of the two hostages was obviously female. The other was male, wearing a button up shirt that had dark stains down the front. He recognized the shirt, and the conclusion he drew, based on the picture Gabriel had sent him, was that the stains were dried blood, Danny's blood. _Danny's shirt, Danny's blood._

They saw Gabriel say something to the man behind and to his left. The man brought one of their captives forward by the arm. Gabriel's face seemed proud and smug as he unveiled one of his prizes.

They watched as Tani shook her head as soon as it was uncovered as if to clear away the offensiveness of the hood. She blinked her eyes to hasten her vision's return, which was difficult with the limited light. When she saw Chin standing in front of her, her eyes got wide and she tried unsuccessfully to speak through the gag that had been forced on her.

"Commander?" Junior spoke without intending to.

"Hold. She's okay. Be patient. We have to get Chin's signal." His own voice sounded odd to his ears, like he was in a tunnel. _Danny's shirt, Danny's blood._

"Yes, sir."

Now it was Junior's voice that sounded muted, faraway. Background noises grew indistinct. _Danny's shirt, Danny's blood._ Ironically, his breathing and heartbeat seemed louder.

"Come on, is that necessary?" They heard Chin express his displeasure over the gag. They could see Gabriel was talking again but they couldn't hear his side of the conversation. Chin responded, "I'm not stalling. She's asleep and I need to know that you're…" Chin stopped mid-sentence when Gabriel threw up his hands and nervously started to shift his head in different directions. They saw him take a step back and pull Tani toward him.

Steve tensed at Gabriel's unexpected reaction. _Danny's shirt, Danny's blood._

"I've got him, Chin," Junior informed. "Say it. They'll go down."

"No, hold," Steve ordered. He had been staring at the hooded prisoner. He saw Danny's shirt and Danny's blood. "It's not right."

"Commander?" Junior questioned.

"Steve?" Adam asked from his perch. "What's not right?"

The pounding of Steve's heart eased and the relentless mantra of his intuitive conscience ceased as he felt a cold shiver tickle his spine the moment his nettling feeling became an undeniable realization. "Danny. That's not Danny."

* * *

_~to be continued~_

\,,,/BronsonL


	24. Chapter 24

_Earlier:_

It hadn't been that long since Gabriel and his men had left the dank cell that Danny and Tani were being held in, or at least it didn't seem like it, but the same three, minus Gabriel, returned and set about their task as if on a mission.

Danny had just gotten to the point where he thought he had his stomach under control. He found the nausea was best controlled when he kept his eyes closed and his head still. The same trick helped with the abominable pain that was wreaking havoc inside his head with every movement and permeation of light whenever opening his eyes was necessary. The corner, where they had left him, had filled this purpose quite nicely. Unfortunately, he knew this latest arrival did not bode well for his attempt at a settled stomach and a tolerable headache.

He saw Tani scramble to her feet and look on helplessly as Emilio and the older man each grabbed one of Danny's arms and pulled him to standing.

"What's… what's going on?" Tani got out.

"You just stay right there and behave yourself and we'll try not to let anything else happen to your boyfriend here," Ron warned.

"Danny?" Tani was ironically looking to their target for reassurance.

"S'okay," he forced out as he squeezed his eyes together tightly, willing his stomach to cooperate. The air in the small room felt hot and stale. Drops of sweat rolled down his face and back. When he decided he had it under control, he opened his eyes and was looking Ron right in the face.

"You don't look too good, detective." Ron started laughing at his own statement. Then he engaged the blade from a folding tactical knife. "Turn him around," he commanded the others, who immediately obeyed. Danny's body instinctively put up a resistance in response, not knowing Ron's intention with the brandished weapon, but another pain, coincidentally akin to a stabbing in his head, caused him to cease movement as his struggle reverted back to the one with his nausea.

The men holding his arms tightened their grip when he felt his hands being cut free from the zip tie. Without needing direction, they then turned Danny back around to face Ron.

Danny made a move to rub the burning sensation from his wrists but was restrained further. "What is this?" Danny questioned the odd activity.

Ron unbuttoned one of the buttons that had not yet popped off of Danny's shirt. "Don't take this the wrong way. I'd rather be doing this to her, but boss man needs your shirt."

"What the hell?" Tani argued for Danny in his weakened state as Ron finished his task.

The men holding Danny took turns pulling the sleeves off each arm and the one named Emilio draped the shirt over his shoulder. Then, Danny's hands were secured by another plastic tie but this time in front, either out of convenience, or lack of time, or another unknown reason.

Emilio snarled his nose in repulsion at the smell of the shirt and the dried blood stains. "This is disgusting. I don't know about all this."

"Get over it," Ron scoffed.

"What about his pants?" Emilio questioned.

"Yours are close enough, but maybe the shoes?" the older guy wondered.

Lowering Danny back to the ground, Ron bent over and slid Danny's shoes off and tossed them to Emilio. "What's with the socks?" Ron laughed at the bright pattern that had been revealed.

Emilio tried on one of the shoes. "They don't fit, Simon," Emilio informed, not paying attention to Ron's amusement at Danny's fashion sense.

"F*ck it. Just wear your own. Who's gonna notice the damned shoes anyway?"

"Why? … What's happening right now?" Tani asked, baffled by what she was witnessing.

"We're going for a ride, sugar," Simon enlightened her. "Here, I got an accessory for you." He pulled out two black hoods and tossed one to Emilio. "There's yours." Then he started to put one on Tani.

She finally realized what was going on. "Nooo! Daaanny!"

Danny tried to get up but was knocked back down with the bottom of Ron's boot. The back of his head bumped the wall behind him making the room spin. With his hands in front of him now, he was able to press his fists to his eyes to gain some stability.

"You probably need to do something about that mouth, Simon. She's gonna give everything away," Ron said with a grin.

Simon stopped short of getting the hood on. "Guess you're right. Be right back."

Emilio grabbed onto Tani's arm when she acted like she was going to follow Simon out the door. "Just chill, lady. You ought to be glad. You're getting sprung. That is if your people come through."

"Emilio!" Ron spat. "Shut your mouth. Looks like _you're_ gonna need a gag, too."

"What? Who the crap cares if she knows? Go to hell!"

"What about him?" Tani pleaded, wondering about Danny. "He's going, too. Right?"

"Nah, we're going to hang out together while you're gone. Sound like fun?" he asked Danny, arching his eyebrows in anticipation.

Danny raised his eyes above his curled-up fingers and sought out Tani's attention. While something inside him wanted Tani to be with him, where he could know she was okay, he also understood that just 'knowing' was his own selfish desire. He accepted that, in his state, he could not do anything to protect her and therefore, his reasoning kicked in and he felt a wave of relief that her chances of making it out of here were looking better than his own. He gratefully saw her eyes meet his. "Tani?" Danny mumbled. "Tani, it's going to be all right."

As soon as Simon came back in, Emilio released Tani into Simon's care and left the room as he needed to get away from the pompous Ron and he also needed to get ready himself. Simon wrapped the strip of cloth he had acquired in his absence in Tani's mouth and tied it behind her head.

"Da… " Danny's name was cut off in the middle as her protest was squelched.

"It's all right," Danny stated again. "Just get home. I'll be fine," he stated as resolutely as he could so she would believe it, even though he did not.

Simon then proceeded to put the hood on her. She fought against this too but lost the battle as she heard Ron drowning out Danny's last muttered assurances as she was ushered out.

"Gonna miss you, sweet thang!" Ron called out after them. After they were gone, he turned his attention back to Danny. "Now it's just you and me," he menacingly alluded to the potential for more impending… 'discomfort'.

~~~~~H50~~~~~

"That's not Danny," Steve stated prosaically. "He's not with them."

He wasn't sure what it was that gave it away, but somehow, he knew the hooded male hostage was not his best friend. Yes, he was about the same size in stature and his build was similar, but there was something else… something about the way he carried himself. This man didn't have Danny's bearing or his air of resolute confidence.

He shifted his gaze to Tani who was confirming his deduction. She was straining to communicate something to Chin. She was trying to let Chin know that the other hostage was not Danny. That Danny was not there, and if he was not present at this 'trade', then he was being kept somewhere else, for some other reason.

"Damn it," Steve breathed out. "That's his backup plan… in case things go sideways. Damn it!"

\~/

Gabriel had stopped Chin from saying anything further. He paused, himself, remaining silent for several seconds. He stepped back and pulled Tani close to him. All of the sudden he felt he needed a shield.

"She's not here, is she?" Gabriel was cold in his delivery.

"Gabriel, listen."

"You lied!" He spit out. "You've got people in your ear. So do I." As he held onto Tani's arm with his left hand, Gabriel tapped at the device in his right ear. "What I'm hearing is not good." Then, he raised his right hand into the air.

\~/

"What's going on? What's he doing?" Junior sensed a trending change in the general undercurrent. The air was stagnant and felt electrically charged. He'd felt this before, more than once, the last time being in Fallujah. The hair on the back of his neck stood up, just as it had done then.

\~/

Gabriel pulled Tani back toward his car, keeping her close to him. His man on the other side guided the hooded man there also.

With his hands held up in a stop motion in front of him, Chin had to do something to calm the situation. "Gabriel, stop. Where are you going? We need to talk this out," Chin pleaded with desperation.

"Too late," Gabriel answered. Tani continued to struggle, pulling and squirming to get free, fighting to break the firm hold. "Stop it," he growled at her as his irritation grew. Though success seemed to be evermore elusive, her battle was not quelled. Gabriel pulled out his own gun and was almost behind his open car door. "Stop or I'll put a bullet through that pretty head of yours."

\~/

"He's taking them," Junior assessed, including both hostages, still not convinced of Steve's conclusion. He broke his cover and headed toward the meeting site. His initial jog turned into a run.

"Junior, get back here!" Steve yelled out unsuccessfully.

Junior was gone, acting on impulse. His brain acknowledged his superior's command and maybe if it had been augmented with an 'that's an order', he could will his body to obey by calling on his instilled training. However, without that extra stimulus, he couldn't stop. He just couldn't let Gabriel take them away.

\~/

There was a roar in the dark distance, the sound of multiple vehicles approaching quickly. Steve, as well as the rest of the team, heard it and knew something was about to go down.

On cue, Steve heard Lou's voice through the comms. "McGarrett, we're picking up several cars headed in your direction. They're moving fast."

"Damn it. He signaled them," Steve said of Gabriel lifting his arm. "Lou? Get the SWAT team in here. How far out are they?" Steve put his finger to his ear to secure the device. His eyes were wide as he scanned the area. He was aware that HPD had been instructed to maintain a wide radius to prevent a hitch in the plan. "Lou? Do you read me? Status update!" The next thing he heard Lou say was not what he wanted to hear.

"Oh, shit."

"Lou?" Steve heard the thumping of helicopter blades. "Lou, tell me that helo's ours."

"Hell, no. Y'all need to fall back now. McGarrett? Get outta there! Now!"

\~/

Kono heard Lou's warning and had seen Gabriel now brandishing his weapon. Their window of opportunity was shrinking before their eyes.

"Gabriel! Stop!" Kono yelled. She had exited Chin's car. She was behind the semi-safety of the car door, training her gun in Gabriel's direction. Chin had retreated to the pretense of protection of the other side of the car and got his hands on his gun that had been stashed in the floorboard.

"Do you have a shot, cuz?!"

"Not yet!" she answered. "Not yet," she spoke to herself.

\~/

Junior was closing in on the meeting site. His night vision goggles crashed to the ground when he purposefully threw them off in haste as he got near. He could see Gabriel and Tani in the headlights. Gabriel was now holding a gun, but thankfully not directly on his hostage. _He still may have a chance._ As he ran, he raised his gun and yelled, "O kaʻohana mua! O ka'ohana mua!"

\~/

Tani heard the predetermined phrase, jerked her arm free, and fell to the ground. Then she heard a shot, followed a second later by another one… then multiple shots rang out. She squeezed her eyes closed at the familiar clapping sounds, their direction and sources indiscernible. There were too many and they were too near to try to get up. At this point, she knew the safest place for her to be was as low to the ground as possible. She half expected to be forced up by Gabriel or one of his men. She thought she would be tossed into the car again only to be rushed away from the freedom that she had been teased with, that had been so near, but if that was meant to be, at least she could possibly get back to Danny… to see if he were still alive.

* * *

_~to be continued~_

\,,,/BronsonL


	25. Chapter 25

**A/N:** Thank you for the kudos, bookmarks, comments, etc. It means a lot. 

Apologies for the possible chaotic feel of this chapter. I hope it engenders suspense instead.

I didn't know how I would cover such widespread points of view with so much going on, soooo… I played a game of pass the POV (loose definition of POV). Where one ends, the next begins.

* * *

Steve watched everything play out before his eyes as if it was all in slow motion.

The first shot fired was the one that made Junior fall.

The second was from Kono's gun. She had fired as soon as Gabriel no longer had his human shield. She had hit her target. He slapped his hand on the upper part of his shooting arm. Blood was steadily leaking through his fingers. He abandoned his hostage as a lost cause or maybe because he knew he had another, stuffed away securely somewhere else and she was no longer needed.

The hooded hostage, 'miraculously' freed himself from his bonds and ridded himself of the blinding hood. He took up cover with the other men that were already there and produced a weapon to help in their effort. The poser was Steve's first shot and first victim, falling to the ground from behind his barricade.

Several vehicles screeched to a stop behind and in front of the united Five-0 task force and unloaded armed men who opened fire. He wasn't sure where these cars had come from. They would not have been able to get past the perimeter of HPD's backup. They must have been there already, concealed inside their own barricades.

Gunfire filled the air and also rained from above. A helicopter was hovering above with a spotlight shining down, looking for its targets.

The Audi, now with Gabriel at the wheel and the original driver in the passenger seat, hightailed it out of the fray in reverse. After about a hundred yards, the car was whipped around and sped off into the darkness. Their plan had been foiled again. Gabriel had once again managed to slip from their grip.

Steve could not linger on or beat himself up about that, though. Their favorable odds of five to four had now flipped upside down and sideways. Their situation was overtly laughable as their small squad was now going up against an army. Junior was down and his status unknown and Danny was still unaccounted for. His ohana was in trouble and he was responsible for them.

It was Adam's voice that brought him out of his daze and reset time back to its normal pace. "Adam?"

\~/

"Steve! Did you hear me?" Adam yelled. "Junior went down. I'm pinned in. I can't get to him. Steve? Are you all right?"

Adam was crouched behind the corner of a white, portable storage building that looked like twenty others just like it. It was made of thin metal sheeting to allow for easy relocation but served its purposed of sheltering cargo loads awaiting transport to and from flights. The material would do no good as protection against the barrage of bullets that filled the air. His _intention_ was to use the building to stay concealed from sight and his _hope_ was that whatever may be stored inside would act as an added buffer if needed.

He finally heard an answer from Steve. He was okay but the full message didn't register as gravel and dirt kicked up at his feet at the same time the transmission came through. _That was too close for comfort._ He ran to the other corner, still at the end of the building. From this angle, he could no longer see Junior but now had a direct line of vision on the cousins.

\~/

"Damn it!"

"You got him, Kono," Chin reassured, unclear of the reason for her aggravation.

"No, I missed. He should be dead, but he's getting away." She and Chin both fired return shots in _one_ of the directions the attack was coming from.

"Junior's hurt. I'm going to him. Stay here," Chin ordered.

"Chin!"

"Don't try to stop me, Kono."

"Never, cuz. Just wanted to let you know I'm going to go get Tani."

Chin smiled at his cousin in understanding. Kono held up three fingers and started the silent countdown. At one finger left, they each took a deep breath and left the safety of the car. Splitting up, Chin went for Junior and Kono went for Tani.

\~/

Even though it had been dark for hours, the tarmac where Tani lay was still very warm to the touch. She was lying on her stomach with her hands still uselessly bound behind her. She was pretty sure the car she had been brought in had left with Gabriel in it. She didn't witness it, but she heard it, felt it, sensed it, especially since she hadn't been snatched up and carted off to God knows where again.

The gunfire was still ringing in the air, but the sounds were more sporadic than before. There seemed to be a lull. _The calm before the storm?_ Unlikely, as the storm had already hit with ferocity. _Should she dare look?_ _Affirmative. Now was the time to find out what the hell was going on._

When she opened her eyes, her cheek flat against the ground, she saw the white car that Chin had arrived in with both doors wide open. She didn't see anyone but saw flashes from gunfire every now and then. She lifted her head and looked ahead of her, her chin almost touching the uncomfortable surface below. As soon as she did, a bullet whizzed nearby and skipped off the hard macadam, ricocheting into her pantleg. There was a sting but nothing more and she quickly put her head back down again.

 _This is ridiculous,_ she mentally scolded herself and looked up again, this time turning her head the other direction.

It took a couple of beats for her to realize the perverted sound she heard was her own muffled scream. ' _Junior_!' would have been her cry at the alarm of seeing him lying lifeless, barely yards from her but she couldn't get out more than the muted scream due to the confounded cloth shoved in her mouth. ' _Juns_!'

\~/

The first shot had hit smack dab in the middle of Junior's Kevlar vest. It had knocked him onto the ground. He had found himself heaving to replace the air that had been forced from his lungs. His chest felt like he had been impaled by a metal object and if not for knowing he wore the protection where the pain surged, he would have thought the bullet had claimed its prize.

 _He had to get up. He had to get to Tani before they took her away._ He decided his effort would be much more effective if he allowed himself another moment to pull in a couple more draws of much needed oxygen.

The second shot did hit flesh. It came from an odd angle after the hailstorm of bullets was at its peak. He was pretty sure that if he _had_ initiated his attempt at standing, the slug would have found its way to a place in his body, most likely above his shoulders, where he would be less likely to come out on the other side of this alive. As it happened, his last second decision to catch his breath turned into a fluke that may have saved his life. Time would tell, though, as he was unsure of the damage done by the bullet that found his side right above his hip. He knew it hurt like hell, but if his pelvis had not been shattered, he was going to renew his attempt at getting up.

Then he heard the muffled cry of Tani. She was still there. He opened his eyes and turned his head in the direction of the sound. Gabriel was nowhere to be seen and she, too, was lying on the ground, face down versus his supine position. Their eyes met and he smiled at her.

 _What was that? Was she laughing?_ It took a minute for him to see that she was crying. "Don't cry," he spoke, not believing she heard him. He realized her tears were tears of relief. She had been worried about him. The break was short lived knowing they were both sitting ducks out here in the open. He had to do something.

Before he had a chance to devise his escape plan from this less than ideal situation, he heard a familiar voice call his name from nearby. Then he saw the face the voice belonged to, Chin.

\~/

Chin was nearly breathless as he fell to his knees besides Junior. "Man, it's good to see those eyes. We weren't sure for a minute."

Chin reported to the others who would be listening on their comms. "Junior's been hit, but he's alive. I repeat, Junior's injured but alive."

He then addressed Junior directly again. "How are you?" Chin's eyes were scanning to find the bullet's entry point. He saw Junior's hand planted on his side. "Here let me see."

"Tani. We gotta get Tani," Junior pleaded.

"She's in good hands," he blew off the entreaty and concentrated his attention back to Junior. "From what I can tell, it doesn't look too bad. Is this what put you down or are you hit somewhere else?"

"The vest took a slug, center mass. That's the one that put me on my ass."

"All right. Do you think you can walk?" Chin asked as he was putting his arms behind Junior, preparing to hoist him to standing.

"Tani!" he tried again.

"Kono's got her. Let's get out of here." He surveyed the area and saw Adam waving at him from his cover. "Kono! Follow us! Adam's over here!"

\~/

Adam met Chin and Junior half way. He started to take a place on the other side of Junior to help.

"What? No." Junior pushed him away. "I'm okay. Go help Tani and Kono."

From what he saw, it didn't look as though either Tani or Kono needed help either, but if he could hurry the process along, he'd try. He left Chin and Junior and took up a place on the other side of Tani, happening upon an unsought moment where his eyes met Kono's. They managed to get the rest of the way to his refuge behind the building. Kono had already removed Tani's gag and it was hanging loosely around her neck. Adam waited until they arrived at their shelter to cut off the zip tie around her wrists. "Hey. You okay? Any injuries?"

"Yeah, no, I'm fine. Thank you," she voiced to Adam and then spoke her appreciation again to Kono before worriedly making her way to Junior. Chin had laid him down and was commencing to put pressure on the bleeding wound. Tani dropped to her knees across from Chin and started to unbuckle his vest.

"It may be better to leave it for now. Til the coast is clear," Chin spoke with experience and wisdom backing up his words.

"What about you?" Adam asked Kono. "You okay?"

Kono pushed her hair that was hanging in front of one of her eyes behind her ear. She pursed her lips into a half smile and nodded, still blaming herself for Gabriel's escape. "You take that corner. I'll take this one," she said. "We'll hold off anyone that gets close."

"No need. Looks like the cavalry's here," Adam stated. Sure enough, one truck had broken through a chain link gate and two others followed. The police backup succeeded in providing a modicum of relief to the weary team.

"Junior Reigns! What the hell fool thing was that?! Running out into the deluge of a firestorm like that?!" Tani rubbed the back of her arm across her face. She was still trying to get her tears in check as she tried to cover the tumult of emotions as her sense of devastation at the thought of losing Junior had morphed into unadulterated relief in a matter of mere seconds.

"I'm sorry," he uttered in contrition, seeming horrified that he had caused her pain.

She choked back another sob. _Oh, no. She wasn't going to start again._ "That's beautiful. You're lying here bleeding all over the place, and here I am yelling at you."

"It's okay," Junior soothed.

"Stop it, would ya? It's not okay." This time she couldn't hold back the dam. It broke loose and the tears were flowing again.

Junior smiled at her. "What about you? Did they hurt you?"

Tani stared at him several seconds in awe that he was concerned for her as he lay on the pavement, possibly gravely injured.

"No." Her tears slowed and she abandoned the useless chore of wiping them away. She tenderly placed her hand on Junior's face to make sure he was locked into what she was about to say. When she could finally speak further, she pressed on to ease his worry. "No, I'm fine. Now it's your turn. 'kay? You've got to be fine, too. You got me, Juns? No checking out on me. You hear me? We've still got too much to do."

"You're not getting rid of me yet," Junior promised.

"I'm holding you to that," Tani smiled.

Chin continued to hold pressure on the wound and let the two younger team members have their moment. Then, feeling a bit like a third wheel, even in this predicament, he escaped as best he could by looking over his shoulder toward Adam.

Still hearing the sounds of gunfire, Chin queried, "Adam, is that HPD returning fire? Is that who Gabriel's men are shooting at?"

"Negative. SWAT hasn't established their position yet," Adam answered.

"Cause if we're all here, who are their targets?"

Adam hinted at a shrug and shook his head.

"Anybody heard from Steve?" Kono asked when she heard the direction of the conversation. "Where is _he_?"

* * *

_~to be continued~_

\,,,/BronsonL


	26. Chapter 26

The gunfire was slowing but was still active and with the lack of communication with Steve, Kono’s worry ramped up. “Steve, this is Kono. Do you read?”

Adam answered Kono’s previously posed question, “He responded when I let him know I was stuck here. He seemed a bit off. I haven’t heard from him since.”

“Steve, do you copy?” Kono adjusted the fit of the earpiece to make sure she did not miss the smallest sound with all the gunfire in the distance. When she didn’t hear anything, she frowned at Adam and shook her head.

“I’m here,” Steve finally responded. “I copy.”

“Oh, thank God,” Kono whispered. At hearing the voice of their leader and friend, the others breathed out a collective sigh of relief.

“Stay put. I’m on my way to you,” Steve announced determinedly.

“He’s on his way here,” Adam informed Tani and Junior whose communication device was lost when he threw off his night vision goggles.

“That’s not a good idea.” Even with the blood loss and pain, Junior had been actively engaged in listening to what was going on around him. His military training was pushing him past his physical pain and he was locked in on keeping the rest of the team safe. “We shouldn’t all be gathered in one place. That’s tactically inadvisable _and_ he shouldn’t come out into the field of fire.”

“Here, Tani. You okay to take over for me?” Chin asked.

“Yeah, sure.” She actually had been aching to help somehow and was glad when she finally got the opportunity. She replaced Chin’s hand with her own and began applying pressure to Junior’s wound.

Chin stood and eased behind Adam in his firing point position at the back corner of the building. “Steve, maybe you should hunker down where you’re at. Junior doesn’t think it’s a good idea right now and I tend to agree. It’s not safe.”

Steve replied, “Listen. Hear that. It’s slowed to nothing.”

“Maybe they’re waiting on us,” Adam offered.

“No. They’re not firing at us… not anymore.”

When Adam looked back with puzzlement at Chin and then Kono who had also taken her eyes from the far corner as well when she heard the odd comment, Chin took over. “Steve, what’re you talking about? Who are they firing at?”

“Stand by. I’m almost there.”

Adam saw him coming their way. He was walking with a fast gait and keeping to the darkest shadows. As he rounded the corner, he raised his eyebrows at Adam, “Hey, how is he?” Without allowing time for an answer, he went straight to Junior and Tani. Holding his side, he squatted down and wrapped his other arm around Tani’s shoulders. “You okay?” he asked her first.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“You sure?” Steve asked with concern.

Tani nodded.

“Sorry, sir,” Junior started, “I shouldn’t have…”

“Save it,” Steve stopped him. He knew his action was foolhardy but he understood and had more pressing things to deal with. “It’s done. How bad is it?”

Chin approached and answered, “The gunshot wound appears to be clean, just giving us some trouble in stopping the blood flow.”

Steve stood as it appeared Junior was in good hands for the time being. “We’ll have medical help here soon. Lou called for an ambulance as soon as he heard.”

Chin added, “He’s going to have a nasty bruise under his vest. It also took a hit.”

Steve whipped his head back around to Junior in surprise before giving his attention back to Chin. Chin nodded. “That’s the shot that took him down and speaking of, what were you saying about them not targeting us?” They could still hear a distant sound of a shot being fired ever so often.

“This last wave? When the other cars and helo came in? Those guys were not aiming at us. They were firing at each other. We got caught in the crossfire.”

“What like some kind of gang war?” Adam conjectured.

“Not sure, but if they had been Gabriel’s reinforcements, I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t be standing here right now. Look, I need to get outta here. Gabriel’s got to be on his way to Danny. We’ve got to get to him.”

“So, it _wasn’t_ Danny? The other hostage?” Chin asked.

“No,” Tani confirmed. “They left him, back at… I’m not sure where it was… or what it was. They had me blindfolded coming and going.”

“It’s okay,” Steve consoled. “I’m pretty sure I know where he’s being kept. We got some intel from one of Gabriel’s men that I think is reliable.” Steve hesitated. He needed to ask a question that was burning him from deep inside but was unsure whether he wanted the answer. “So, Gabriel sent us a pic. You were with Danny. How is he? It didn’t look good.”

“No lie, he was pretty banged up. He tried to be my knight in shining armor and that didn’t go over so well.”

Junior looked to Tani with an intense stare, making a mental note to get more information on that statement at a later time.

“Highly fortified?”

“I don’t know. I just saw the room we were being held in. The other times I was hooded. It felt like an old industrial kind of building of some sort.” That piece of information helped to confirm Steve’s intel. “Besides Gabriel, I only saw three men. I know at least one, the jerk-off that did the damage to Danny,” she lowered her voice in restrained contempt, “stayed back with him. I have no idea how many others there were that I didn’t see.”

“Okay, all right,” Steve spoke as he was thinking. “I just gotta go. We’re losing our window of opportunity. I need to catch up with Gabriel. He doesn’t know the information we got. He won’t know we’re coming, so he may be lax on his vigilance. Tani, can you stay here with Junior until the ambulance gets here?”

“Yeah, sure, of course,” she said, wanting to help her team but wanting to stay back with Junior more.

“Chin, Adam, you come with me. Kono, stay here and maintain a post until help arrives.”

“Boss?” Kono couldn’t refuse, especially knowing that what he was asking was legitimate, but she was torn. She wanted to be a part of the group that took down Gabriel.

“We’re good, Steve. Let Kono go with you,” Tani implored at seeing the visible internal struggle written on Kono’s face. “God knows you may need the help.”

Steve wanted to argue against it. He wanted to give the idea more thought, but he didn’t have time. “Fine. We’ve got to get going.”

“You up for this?” Chin asked about Steve’s endurance, aware of his recovery that had been forced to the sidelines.

Steve was physically and mentally exhausted. His wounded torso was screaming in pain, but he was not done. He had to call on his stores of adrenaline to see him through and when his ohana was safe, he would crash… for days. He glared at Chin in answer to his question.

“Okaaay. You’re up for this,” Chin conceded.

Steve bent down and pulled up his pantleg and removed a compact nine-millimeter that was stashed there. He checked the load and racked the slide and stepped back over to Tani and Junior. Then holding the barrel, he reached the grip to Tani. “Just in case,” he stated matter-of-factly.

Tani took the gun. “Thank you.”

~~~~~H50~~~~~

Gabriel tried slamming the door in frustration when he entered the deteriorating building just to have the door bang against the frame and swing back and forth in opposition. Following behind his boss, Simon hesitantly peeked through the same door to see if it was safe for him to enter as well. Gabriel was heading in the direction of the stairwell to the basement.

“Sir!” Gabriel stopped and turned toward Simon. “You need to get a bandage on that arm. I’ll go find something.”

“Hey!” Gabriel hailed him before he could get out of sight. “Are Piper and Russell still here?”

“Should be around here somewhere,” he shrugged.

Besides Ron, Gabriel had left two other henchmen behind and he was now grateful that he did because his numbers had been cut in half. “Find them. I want Russell on the perimeter and Piper in here.”

“Yes, sir.”

Gabriel galloped down the serrated steel steps into the dark basement that was lit by only one light in the far corner. “Where is he?” he demanded, speaking to a large empty room. “Bring him here? It’s time for them to pay.” With one hand still holding the oozing wound on his other arm, he began to pace. Impatience began to mix with his anger and he believed his heart was beating faster instead of calming.

At hearing the rage in the command, Ron was startled from his catnap and almost fell out of the straight-back chair that had been precariously balanced on two legs leaning against the wall. He took a second to glance to his charge and then hustled out to greet his boss.

“Boss? Your arm. What happened?”

Gabriel ignored the question. “They didn’t follow through. Now they’re going to pay. Where is he? Fiiive-0,” he mockingly sing-songed the name, “is about to lose their number two. Go get him!”

* * *

_~to be continued~_

\,,,/BronsonL


	27. Chapter 27

Steve believed the information James Okala had given them in trade for Five-0's protection for his family was their last chance. If it hadn't been for Gabriel's latest enticement of a trade that couldn't be dismissed out of hand, he would have been there already.

The light of the earliest morning sun was just beginning to create a glow as the black sky began to turn dark blue. They could now see the outside of the defunct swine farm's abandoned slaughterhouse building was cinder block that had been painted white. The chosen color, or lack thereof, was a subtle attempt to throw off the most unwitting observer with its deceptive illusion of purity, directly contrasting the building's purpose.

Though unnecessary, Steve laid his gloved hand on the hood of the Audi that was parked outside the building and felt the warmth. The four had already split to cover each side of the building in their prearranged plan. Adam and Kono were making their way to the back of the building. Steve and Chin would enter the front.

It was hard to tell for sure, but it looked as though a large dock door was wide open at the far end of the expansive building. However, because of where Gabriel's car was parked, they decided to enter through the same door they believed he would have entered.

They eased the door open and entered, checking in all directions. The growing light of dawn spilled into the large holding area to their left, confirming the open door, but as they could not waste any time, Steve believed they had made the right decision. It looked like they would be heading down the nearby steps where he could see artificial light filtering up. They listened intently for voices or sound before proceeding, but heard nothing.

The dark stairway led deep into the bowels of the deserted monstrosity. At the bottom of the steps, they found they had to wind their way past rusting conveyor belts, large stainless-steel industrial sinks, and pass through a handful of open heavy metal doorways, all leading to the only light source.

They stopped at the last door, taking a position on either side. They peered in to see what appeared to be a larger, more open area. It was probably not any larger than some of the areas they had just come through, but the space was missing the no-longer-utilized equipment and furnishings that the others contained.

There he stood, facing away from them in the center of the area.

~~~~~H50~~~~~

Adam and Kono had to hop a fence and wriggle their way through a small opening of a chained gate at the back of the property. They figured they had probably covered at least four or five acres just to get to the back side of the building. They kept close to the façade as they felt their way down the length, looking for their opportunity to enter without alerting anyone.

Noa Russell cursed to himself as he stepped in a depression in the ground causing him to almost turn his ankle. Even though it was still mostly dark, there was a little light from the newly awakening day, and he had instinctively looked to the overgrown brush surrounding the property to find some privacy from… no one… to relieve himself. He had turned back toward the building and was zipping his trousers when he saw the two moving figures as they prowled along the back wall.

He pulled out his gun and approached silently from an angle behind them. When he was almost upon them, he spoke. "Can I help you two?"

They both whipped around in their alarm. Kono, especially, chastised herself for allowing them to be caught by surprise. Neither had brandished their weapons yet as they were wanting to find access before doing so. They slowly raised their hands in the air. They knew trying to come up with a cover story would have no merit as they were wearing their vests, plainly labeled with their "Five-0" patches, but just for kicks, Kono answered, "Hey, no need for that. We've been out at the clubs all night with friends and one of 'em dared us to come out here. We're just looking for a little alone time." She winked at the confused looking man before adding, "if you know what I mean."

"Nice try, lady. Lead the way. We're heading back around to the front. My boss will want to speak with you."

Kono and Adam looked at each other, knowing he meant Gabriel.

~~~~~H50~~~~~

Gabriel had not heard them. He was holding his hand over his bleeding wound and was heaving in air as if he had just run a race. Steve recognized the behavior as rage and figured that could give them an advantage.

Steve gestured his intention and direction to Chin and they silently flanked their target from behind.

"Gabriel Waincroft…"

Gabriel's heavy breathing stopped and he stood up straight.

"…put your hands behind your head and get on your knees," Steve ordered.

The best Gabriel could do was to raise his arms halfway. He turned around slowly, not wanting to give them a reason to shoot first, ask questions later. He saw Steve and Chin at his two and ten, both with their handguns trained on him.

"Hello Chin… Commander…"

"I'm gonna assume you didn't hear me… on your knees, hands behind your head," Steve tried again, speaking slowly and distinctly to leave no room for misunderstanding.

Gabriel ignored him and addressed Chin. "You disappointed me, Chin."

"Gabriel, you need to do what McGarrett said."

Steve allowed the interaction but he began to grow impatient. As he looked down his sights for his shot, he tightened his grip in preparation.

"I don't think so," Gabriel brazenly countered.

"Don't make this harder on yourself," Chin pleaded.

"I'm not. Things are very simple. _You_ need to put your weapon down." He turned his gaze to Steve. "You, too, Commander, or my brother-in-law is about to feel a breeze between his ears."

Chin felt the muzzle against the back of his neck. If he could become any more still, he did.

Steve quickly glanced to his right to see a thin, older man holding a gun on Chin. He and Chin maintained their stance.

"Tell your man to stand down," Steve ordered. "We've got two guns to his one."

"Maybe so, but 'his one' will be the first to fire and the first to hit."

"Don't listen to him, Steve," Chin urged. "He's messin' with you."

"Simon?"

"Yeah, boss," the man behind Chin answered.

"I'll take you out first. You know I will," Steve promised Gabriel.

Gabriel ignored him. "Simon, if he shoots… or on my count, I want you to put a bullet through Lieutenant Kelly's head."

"Got it, boss."

"Put down your weapons." Gabriel still had his hands in the air as he spoke.

"Not happening," Steve spoke determinedly.

"Simon, one…"

"Gabriel." Steve shifted his feet.

"Steve, don't." Chin could see Steve's wavering in his peripheral vision.

"Commander, are you sure you want to be responsible? Two… Last chance."

A couple more seconds ticked off and at what he thought was the last second, Steve conceded. "All right. All right," Steve said a second time in a lower tone. He decocked his gun and turned the barrel up, offering the grip to Gabriel.

Chin closed his eyes in realization that, once again, his tormentor had gained the advantage. He slowly lowered his arms to his side and Simon was able to slip the gun from his hand.

"Now isn't that better?" Gabriel took the offered weapon from Steve. "We can actually talk now." He secured Steve's gun in his waistband at his back. "Let's see, what was it you were saying? Oh, yeah, on your knees, hands behind your head? Let's try that."

Steve and Chin shared a look and hesitated.

"Come on!" he reinforced.

Steve made the move first and Chin followed as they both slowly complied.

"Ah, much better." Gabriel put his hand back over his wound and then looked past the men to a new arrival. "Well, Piper, I'm glad you could finally make it."

"I came as soon as I got Simon's message." Piper took up a stance beside Simon with his gun drawn as well.

Gabriel ignored the excuse and addressed Steve and Chin. "Geez, you all are like a bunch of damn Energizer Bunnies. You just don't quit. How did you find me this time? You know what? It doesn't matter. I don't even want to know." He took a few steps while he spoke, deliberately displaying his complacency. "Now where was I before I was so rudely interrupted?"

"Where's Detective Williams?" Steve asked, tired of Gabriel's rambling.

Gabriel abruptly stopped his pacing and snapped his fingers. "That's it. Detective Blondie… How did you know? Ron!" he yelled out. "What's taking so long?" Gabriel squatted down in front of Steve. "You know, we were just getting ready to have a payback celebration."

Steve glared at him.

Gabriel smiled back at him before looking over at Chin. "You had your chance. I told you something like this would happen. Why didn't you just bring her to me and we could have avoided all of this? I mean, you went so far as to bring her to the island. Did _they_ get in your head?" He turned a thumb toward Steve.

"You're an idiot," Steve mumbled.

"What did you say?" He turned back to Steve.

"You're an idiot," Steve said it louder. "She was never on the island."

Gabriel looked shell shocked for an instant but immediately covered with an exaggerated laugh. He quickly calmed and drawled out, "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Gabriel, I never brought Sara back to Oahu. She's been with Abby on the mainland the whole time," Chin informed.

Gabriel stood. "My guy saw her. You're lying… again."

"He's not," Steve added. "Your _guy_ … saw my niece and made some wrong assumptions."

Now, Gabriel glared at Simon standing behind the pair. "Is that true?"

"No, no, it's not true," Simon defended himself. " _They're_ the ones who are lying. I saw her."

Steve chuckled out loud. "That's what you get for not checking the facts… or at least getting better goons to work for you."

Gabriel had lost his smug smile. The rage began to build again as he realized they were telling him the truth. "Where was it that my bullet hit you, Commander? Was it here?" His own gunshot wound long forgotten, Gabriel landed a punch to Steve's abdomen.

Steve felt the white-hot flare burn like a dagger into his stomach. He yelled out in pain and doubled over at the force of the blow that came close to his still-healing injuries. His arms reactively dropped and covered his abdomen. Gabriel allowed his change in position temporarily.

"Steve!" Chin yelled out. "Gabriel, stop! It's me you're angry at. Remember? You've got to know I wouldn't have turned her over to you."

"She's my daughter, Chin."

"Not anymore."

"Ron." Gabriel said the name as he took a long step backwards, continuing to stare down at his two new prisoners. "Ron!"

"Right here, boss." Ron came through one of the doors at the far end of the larger room. He held a length of rope in one of his hands. "Just had a little trouble…" As soon as he saw the situation, he stopped in startled awareness. "Everything okay here?" He quickly absorbed that the two Five-0 men were on their knees and under Gabriel's control.

"We're fine," Gabriel snapped impatiently. "Where is he?"

Steve looked up, knowing who Gabriel was referring to. The pain from the hit morphed from sharp and intense to registering as nothing more than a dull ache when his attention was diverted to something now more important. He sat up straighter in anticipation.

"Yeah, like I was saying, I had a little trouble cutting him down, but it's all good." He added a second hand to the rope trailing behind him and pulled. Danny's arms appeared first as he was drug from an adjoining room. Ron continued to strain against the dead weight as Danny's entire body was revealed.

"Danny?!" Steve planted a foot on the floor in preparation to stand. At seeing Danny's lifeless body, he could not restrain himself anymore.

Gabriel glowered at Piper as he held Steve's shoulder down to prevent him from standing. Steve skillfully swept his leg under Piper's bringing him to the floor on his stomach. Piper's gun slipped from his fingers as he hit the ground and Steve dove for it.

Simon maintained a stalwart hold on the back of Chin's shirt as he again connected the muzzle to the back of his neck, preventing a joint impassioned effort.

"Stop!" Gabriel yelled out louder than he'd wanted to. Steve's fingers were on the gun, but he still managed to steal a glance toward the source of the order giver. This time, Gabriel had pulled out Steve's firearm that he had just deposited in his waistband and was pointing it toward Danny's motionless body.

Steve froze. Breathing out a sigh of acquiescence, his head dropped to his chest. Knowing that one wrong move could mean the end of his brother, he crept his way back to his spot and once again slowly eased into his position on his knees. He then wrapped his hands around the back of his neck. Piper secured his weapon and scrambled back up to his feet, resuming his former position.

When Gabriel was satisfied that he had regained control, he spoke. "Really stupid, Commander."

Steve hated… loathed the fact that he was in a helpless position. His breathing was shallow as he couldn't get his lungs to cooperate. His rage mixed with the lack of air movement in the stuffy basement and fueled the heat that seemed to develop from deep within his body. He briefly registered his stomach's queasiness before compartmentalizing his own physical infirmities and concentrating on what was playing out in front of him. He maliciously leered at Gabriel with expressed defiance.

As things settled, Gabriel appeared to see the condition of his prisoner for the first time. "Shit, Ron, what did you do? Is he already dead? Cause I wanted to have that privilege."

Steve's muscles tensed and his jaw clenched. He saw Danny lying mostly on his stomach with his arms still outstretched ahead of him. The red marks around his wrists with streaks of blood running away from his hands validated to Steve that he had been callously strung up by his arms.

His upper body was bare, which bore out what he had witnessed earlier that evening with Danny's double sporting his blood-stained shirt. Bruises marred a large portion of what he could see of his torso. The object of his last observation, however, evoked the slightest, imperceptible and fleeting partial grin. The familiarity of the conspicuous bright green and yellow argyle socks on Danny's shoeless feet offered a hint of distraction to this fubar jam they had found themselves in.

"Nah." Ron held tight to the rope but gave it some slack. He pushed Danny lightly with his toe. "Hey, wake up," he tried. Danny's body rocked from the impetus but did not come to. Then Ron kicked him a little harder.

Danny stirred. "All right, already," he grumbled.

"Danny?" Steve ventured, encouraged by his partner's awakening.

Chin nervously looked to his left, concerned that Steve again would not be able to hold it together. With the movement, he felt the gun push against his head with the intention of reminding him of the threat behind him. "Gabriel, you need to stop this. Steve, take it easy."

"No, go ahead Commander. See if you can wake him up?" Gabriel taunted. "He needs to join the party."

Steve remained on his knees with his hands clasped behind his neck. He ignored the amusement Gabriel was having and spoke to his partner across the room. "Danny? Hey, buddy. You okay? You with us?"

* * *

_~to be continued~_

\,,,/BronsonL


End file.
